To regain trust
by jhvh777
Summary: When Chaud tries to explain to his father that their company and Yai's should combine, his father loses it. When Chaud runs away, his father learns that Chaud was right, he must try to bring his son back. Sequel to The Guard
1. Trouble

Here is the sequel to The Guard! Yeah. This one will be written during school, so I will update as frequently as possible. And you have to have read The Guard Epilogue to understand what this is about. Thanks to LemmingRebel for beta reading! Bye!

**Begin Chapter**

"Chaud, have you finished the memo to your father yet?" asked Protoman as he watched Chaud type furiously on his computer.

"Yes," Chaud replied. "I don't think that the old man will warm up to the idea right away, so I have to have a backup strategy. And that strategy is what I am typing now."

"What?" asked Protoman as he looked at the screen. "You are writing a memo to Yai?"

"Well, we decided that we should contact each other to discuss the specs before we contacted our fathers," said Chaud as he finished the memo and compressed it in a file. "Could you take this to Glyde for me while I go and give this one to my old man?"

"Yes sir," said Protoman as he went opened a link to Net City.

"Bye, oh, and just come back to my office when you are done. The old man wouldn't like you to intrude on this conversation, or something like that."

"Will do," said Protoman as he left for Net City.

"And now to print this, put it in the manila folder, and take this to the top story," said Chaud. He opened his father's memo, printed it, and stuck it in his legal sized manila folder. _"I can't believe that I am going to try and pitch this to my father. I must be out of my mind. I don't think that Yai and I should have taken Jena seriously when she said that our companies should merge. Then again, I did have enough reasons for a seven page memo,"_ he thought as he boarded the elevator and it began its ascension.

MRMRMRMRMRMRMRMR

"May I come in? It's Protoman," asked Protoman through the link to Yai's homepage.

"Sure, may I ask what the occasion is?" asked Glyde as he opened the link.

"Chaud wanted me to bring this to Yai. It is a memo that he wanted to send about the possible business deal," said Protoman as he showed Glyde the document that he carried.

"Right this way," said Glyde as he stepped through another link. "Here is Miss Yai right now."

"Glyde, who is it?" asked Yai.

"It is Protoman, and he has a document from Chaud," he replied as Protoman stepped forward.

"It is a memo that he wrote about the business deal," said Protoman as he showed the document to Yai. "Shall I open it for you, or would you rather have me give it to Glyde now?"

"Just give it to Glyde," said Yai. "Thank you for bringing it."

"You're welcome," said Protoman as he made his way out of Yai's computer and into Net City. He had started the walk back to IPC (That is Chaud's company) when he heard a scream come from one of the alley ways.

"NO! That isn't your Zenny! Leave Mary's money alone, or I will hurt you!" came a female voice from the alleyway. Protoman went over to see a tall female Navi who was wearing an orange and yellow jumpsuit with blue shoulder guards, blue cuffs on her arm, and blue flares on the bottom of her pants. She had on pink gloves and pink boots. Her helmet was yellow, orange, blue and round with a ring on the top. Her hair was done in ringed ponytails. She was cornered by three dark grey Navi's who were sporting a Blaster, a sword, and a sniper rifle.

"Give us the money or we'll delete you!" said the thug with the sword.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you," said Protoman as he entered the alley, sword drawn.

"Oh yeah," said the sniper who shot at Protoman. He dodged and attacked the sniper. Meanwhile, the female Navi was trying to take on the two others at once.

"Ring Rang!" yelled the girl as she sent her bottom rings on each side of her head at the unsuspecting Navi's in front of her. The blaster one took a ring right to the chest, and it began to crack the symbol on his chest. He was forced to log out doe to the amount of damage that he had received. The second one had dodged the ring, and was rearing back to attack her again.

"Oh no you don't," said Protoman as he sliced through the Navi from behind. He had logged out the Sniper and had just deleted the swordsman. "Are you ok?" he asked the female Navi.

"Um, yeah, I guess. Thank you for helping me. My name is Ring," she said as she held out a hand for Protoman to shake, which he did.

"My name is Protoman. You need to be more careful, Net City is a dangerous place. There are many Navis who will delete you as quick as look at you," said Protoman. He had to give that speech about ten times every time he went to net city.

"Well, if there were just one of them I would have been fine. I was almost home anyways," said Ring. "So, thanks for the help. My Operator is a girl named Mary. And yours is Chaud Blaze, correct?"

"Yes, you are right. If you would excuse me, I need to get back to him now," said Protoman as he left the alleyway.

"Bye!" said Ring as she started out in the opposite direction.

"Bye," said Protoman as he walked back to IPC's site to wait for Chaud in his office.

MRMRMRMRMRMRMRMRMRMR

"Mr. Blaze, your Vice President is here to see you," said the secretary for Mr. Blaze.

"Yes, send him in," he said as the secretary left the room to go and get Chaud. _"I wonder what he wants. I didn't send for him, and he didn't make an appointment. I hope it is not another hair brained explanation for the hundreds of missing Navis."_

"Sir," said Chaud as he walked in and stood in front of his father's desk.

"Yes, what is it now? Did you finish that contract with the computer chip supplier?" Mr. Blaze asked his son.

"Yes sir, and they agreed to help with the new PET. There is another reason why I am here though," said Chaud as he handed his father the manila folder.

"What is this?" asked his father as he opened the folder and read the title of the memo. "AYANO TECH! YOU WANT US TO HAVE A PARTNERSHIP WITH AYANO TECH! WHO GAVE YOU THAT CRAZY IDEA? THEY ARE OUR COMPETITION!"

"Sir, please don't yell. I have all of my reasons sated clearly in the memo. The main reason is that we make PET's with a few chips, while they make many chips with a few PET's. If we combined, we would have one less competitor, and so would they," explained Chaud as he watched his father go from civil to ticked off with each word he said.

"Get out," his father said under his breath.

"Sir?" asked Chaud, unsure of what his father said.

"I SAID GET OUT OF MY SIGHT YOU WORTHESS….. SCUM! YOU DON'T DESERVE THE FAMILY NAME! YOU ARE A DISGRACE TO ALL BLAZES IN THE WORLD, ESPECIALLY ME!" his father yelled. "YOU DISGRACED THE COMPANY BY EVEN SUGGESTING THIS "PARTNERSHIP"! GET OUT!" When Mr. Blaze was done with his rant, he picked up his paper weight, as well as other things on his desk, such as a ruler and a pen, and threw them at Chaud. He tried to duck, but was a second to late. The paper weight, which was aimed poorly due to his rage, hit Chaud in the head, and hard. So hard that he was knocked out. Mr. Blaze watched as his son fell to the ground. "GET UP, I'M NOT FINISHED WITH YOU YET! GET UP I SAY, GET UP!"

"Sir," said the secretary through the door, "Is everything ok?"

"Yes Miriam, Chaud and I are just having a little heart to heart," said Mr. Blaze as he went over to his son. "We'll be done soon." When he reached Chaud, he pushed him over with his foot, and saw that his son was unconscious. _"Oh no. What have I done? What will happen when the secretary sees this? I need to hide him until he wakes up."_ Mr. Blaze looked around his room for a place to hide his son, when he spotted the couch. _"There, that will be the perfect place. It will look like he just fell asleep,"_ he thought as he picked up his son's limp body and placed him on the couch.

"Sir, is everything ok?" said the secretary as she entered the room to see Mr. Blaze putting a blanket over his son.

"Shh, he fell asleep while he was standing by my desk, and fell over, so I moved him here to the couch," lied Mr. Blaze. "We need to be quiet or we will wake him up."

"Yes sir," said the secretary as she looked at the young boy. _"Odd, I don't remember him having a bump on his head when he came in. I guess he got it when he passed out,"_ she thought as she examined the boy before she left.

"_That was a little too close for comfort. I hope that she won't become suspicious,"_ thought Mr. Blaze as he went back over to his desk to have the Navi's that were working on his computer's memories erased.

MRMRMRMRMRMRMRMRMRMR

Protoman had been waiting in the computer for over an hour, and no word from Chaud. _"Is he ok? If he is, why didn't he contact me? He should have been here an hour ago. Where is he?" _Protoman thought as he watched for the door to open. All of the sudden, one of Mr. Blaze's private standard Navi's came rushing into the computer.

"Hide me! Hide me! Mr. Blaze is trying to wipe my memory, and I need to tell you something. Hide me!" it said as it bowed to Protoman's feet.

"Ok, ok. Follow me," said Protoman as he went to a hidden folder on the computer. "Hide in here. When Mr. Blaze comes, I will tell him that one came here, but I threw him out of the computer."

"Thank you," the standard Navi said as he was shut into the file.

"_What was all that about? Does it have to do with Chaud?"_ but before he could think about it any longer, Mr. Blaze came into the office.

"Hello. Have you seen a standard Navi around here? I need him to do something for me, and I can't seem to find him," said Mr. Blaze as he walked over to the desk with the computer that Protoman was in.

"Yes, but I sent him out of this computer like you told me to if any of your Navi's came here," said Protoman.

"Thank you," said Mr. Blaze as he walked to the door and opened it. "Oh, and Chaud passed out from exhaustion, and he is asleep on my couch right now, so you don't need to worry about him."

"Goodbye Sir," said Protoman as Mr. Blaze shut the door. "Now, what do you want?" He went over and opened the file and let the Navi out.

"Well, I know why Mr. Blaze wants me. He is trying to cover-up what he just did," said the Navi.

"What exactly did he just do?" asked Protoman, who was suddenly worried about his Op's well being.

"He got mad at Young Blaze, and threw a paperweight and other things at him. You know the paperweight that weighs about five pounds. Anyways, Chaud tried to duck, but the paperweight caught him in the head. Last I saw, Mr. Blaze was taking him over to the couch, and laying him there like he was asleep. He wants to wipe my memory so I can't incriminate him," said the poor Navi, who had almost broken into tears.

"There there, I know a place that you will be safe. Take this link and tell Glyde that I sent you. If he doesn't believe you, have him email me, ok?" asked Protoman to the little Navi.

"Y-Yes sir," he said as he took the link to safety.

"_Chaud, what have you gotten yourself into this time? I knew this might have been too much for your father to handle in one sitting,"_ Protoman thought as he waited for his Op to arrive.

End Chapter 


	2. On to safety

**Begin Chapter**

Protoman was waiting for Chaud when the door suddenly burst open, and Chaud came in, shut the door, and locked it. "Are you ok!"

"Protoman! You have to help me! My father is trying to kill me!" he said as he ran over to his desk and sat down on the floor behind it so no one could see him.

"Calm down and tell me what happened," said Protoman, trying to hide his own fear for his NetOp. Chaud calmed down enough to tell him exactly what happened.

"And then he threw that enormous paperweight at me, and I tried to duck, but I wasn't fast enough, and it hit me in the head. I blacked out until five minutes ago. When I woke up, I saw that I was on the couch, and that my old man wasn't there, so I ran for here," Chaud finished. He had begun to tremble in fear and was close to an emotional breakdown.

"Calm down while I send a few emails," said Protoman. _"I need to contact Yai and Lan. They will need to know and they can possibly help."_ Protoman started the email to Yai first.

* * *

Yai: 

Everything didn't go well when Chaud went to go and pitch the idea to his father. His father went berserk and threw a ten pound paper weight at him, and he caught it with his head. He is about to have a break down. Just a heads up about what is happening. I am going to see if Lan can have Chaud stay with him.

Protoman

* * *

When he was finished with the letter, he sent it and started on Lan's.

* * *

Lan: 

Chaud went to pitch Jena's idea to his father, and his father didn't like the idea. He threw a ten pound paper weight at him and other things on his desk, and the weight caught him in the head. He needs a safe place to lay low for the next few days. Can he come and stay with you? If not, do you know a place where he could go? I don't want him to be in the same building as his father, for clear reasons.

Protoman

* * *

"There," he said as he sent the email to Lan. "Chaud, are you going to be ok?" 

"I don't know," said the shaking boy, "I just don't know. Do I have to go home?"

"No, I am trying to see if you can stay with Lan. I don't know if he has an extra room, but I'm sure he will find a place for you to go," said Protoman, trying to calm Chaud down enough that he could stand up enough without shaking.

"Thank you," said Chaud as he looked at Protoman and smiled the best he could, "you're a life saver."

"Hey, that's what I'm here for. I have to protect you the best I can," said Protoman as he got the new mail message. "New message from Yai."

"What does it say?" asked Chaud as he looked at the computer screen. "You can just read it to me."

* * *

To Chaud and/or Protoman: 

I'm so sorry. My father took the idea a little better; he actually looked like he sort of liked the idea. I think that Lan will be able to have you stay with him. I have a friend staying with me. Her name is Mary, and her Netnavi is Ring. Oh, and the Navi that you sent is ok. FYI.

Yai

* * *

"Ok," said Chaud, "What Navi did you send?" 

"One of your father's standard Navi's. Your father was going to erase his memory, and he came to me to tell me what happened before you came here. I sent him to Yai's computer for safety," explained Protoman.

"Oh," said Chaud as he let his head fall back against his desk. Protoman just hoped that Lan would email back soon.

MRMRMRMRMRMRMRMRMRMR

"Lan, email," said Mega. Lan was eating lunch during school with Maylu, Tory, and a new girl that Yai introduced that morning, Mary, before she went to help her father at work.

"Ok, who's it from?" asked Lan as he finished his lunch.

"Protoman," said Mega as he opened the email and read it. "Oh my. That's horrible."

"What?" asked Maylu and Lan at the same time.

"Why don't you read the email," said Mega as he put the email up on the screen. Lan read the email, and paled as he finished. Maylu took the PET so that she, Tory, and Mary could read it.

"What!" said Maylu in a hushed voice. "That's horrible!"

"Yeah," replied Mary. "Ring, didn't you say that you met Protoman earlier on your way here?"

"Yeah," Ring replied from her PET, "he helped me when I was attacked by three Navi's."

"You were attacked!" Mary replied. "This morning? All you told me was that you ran into him on the way here!"

"Um, did I forget to tell you?" said Ring. Mary just rolled her eyes and looked at Lan.

"Can I have my PET back?" asked Lan. Maylu handed him his PET, and he addressed Mega. "Mega, can you email mom and dad and ask them if Chaud can stay with us?"

"Sure," said Mega as he got to work on the email. Just then, the end of class bell rang, and Lan, Maylu, Tory, and Mary went to their next class. They found their seats, and Ms. Mari waited for the bell to ring.

"Class, I have an announcement to make," she said as the door opened and Dex walked in. "Dex will be joining us for the rest of the year. Please take your seat." Dex nodded his head and looked at his feet as he walked to the desk behind Lan's.

"Sorry for what I did," he said as he passed Lan's desk and sat down in his desk.

"'S ok," replied Lan as he turned his attention to Ms. Mari as class begun.

MRMRMRMRMRMRMRMRMRMR

"Dr. Hikari," said one of Sci-Lab's standard Navi's that was working with the doctor, "You have a new email from your son. Do you wish for me to open it now, or should I wait?"

"Open it now, please," he replied as he looked to the screen where his son's email was up.

* * *

Dad, 

Chaud needs a place to stay for a week or so. Can he stay with us? It's urgent. His father threw things from his desk at him, and knocked him out. Protoman doesn't want him to go home for obvious reasons.

Lan and Mega

* * *

"59," Dr. Hikari called the Navi that was helping him, "Can you reply to Lan and tell him that it is ok with me, and that he needs to come over to Sci-Labs after school and explain himself?" 

"Sure thing," 59 replied as he began the email.

"_I should call Hakura and tell her that Chaud will be staying with us for a while,"_ thought Dr. Hikari as he picked up the phone and called his wife. "Hi honey."

"Hi," came Mrs. Hikari's voice from the receiver, "What's the occasion? I don't usually get calls during the day."

"Chaud is going to be staying with us for a week or so. I called to give you a heads up," replied Dr. Hikari as Famous walked into the room and 59 finished the email and sent it.

"Ok, I will get the guest bedroom ready and make dinner for one more, bye sweetie," said Mrs. Hikari as she hung up the phone. Dr. Hikari set down the receiver and turned towards Famous.

"Hello, did you get bored in your office?" joked Dr. Hikari.

"No…Well, yes, I did," he replied with a smile, "What's this I hear about Chaud staying with you?"

"I don't know if it is my place to tell you, but I will if you don't tell anyone, including the Chief," said Dr. Hikari. "59, you can have the rest of the day off."

"Thank you sir!" he exclaimed as he ran out of the PC.

"Well, I think that it would be better if I let you read Lan's email," said Dr. Hikari as he motioned towards the screen.

"I see," said Famous as he finished the email. "Well, Chaud's secret is safe with me. I will tell Chief to go easy on him because someone in his family died."

"Thank you Famous," said Dr. Hikari. "I should get home and help my wife with dinner and getting the house clean." With that said, he left.

MRMRMRMRMRRMRMRMRMR

"Lan, email from your dad," Mega whispered to Lan. There was thirty minutes left in class, and Lan was officially zoned out.

"What's it say?" he whispered backed. Mega opened the email and showed it to Lan. "K, email Protoman and tell him Chaud can come to my house. And what is Ms. Mari talking about?"

"Algebra. Pay attention!" scolded Mega as he started the email to Protoman.

* * *

Protoman 

Sure, Chaud can come and stay with us. Everything will be fine, so don't worry. Lan will be home right after school. He is in his last class. You can go there now.

Megaman

* * *

"Lan," whispered Mega when he finished the email, "can you jack me into the school server so I can hang out now?" 

"Sure," said Lan as he jacked Mega in. "Have fun."

Mega arrived in the net and went from Lan's desk to Maylu's. "Hey Roll," he said as he got there.

"Hey Mega, what's up?" she asked as Mega went over and stood next to her.

"Well, Chaud and Protoman are going to be staying with Lan and me for a few weeks, or until it is safe for him to go back home," Mega replied. "What's up with you?"

"Not much," she replied, "Maylu doesn't have too much stuff for the next few weeks. It's only piano lessons and homework. I have a feeling Yai is going to call her after school in the near future to get Maylu to come over and do her hair."

"Can she come over tonight and help Lan with his homework? I know that he has been spacing out all class period," Mega asked.

"I'll ask her after class," she said trying to keep herself from laughing. "Is that why you weren't in Lan's desk page today?"

"Yes and no," he replied, "I was waiting for the email from dad too."

"Oh, well, the bell is about to ring, so you had better get back to Lan's desk. I'll ask Maylu soon. Bye!"

"Bye," Mega replied as he went through the link to his desk and from there to his PET.

_BBBBBBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG_

"Finally!" exclaimed Lan, "School's out!"

"Well Lan," said Ms. Mari as everyone got their things together and left, "Don't forget about your homework. I hope you were paying attention today."

"Yes ma'am, I was," lied Lan as he left the room with Maylu, Dex, Tory, and Mary. As soon as they were out of earshot of Ms. Mari, Lan turned around. "I didn't pay a bit of attention in class today."

"Good job, you're better than me," joked Dex, "Gutsman made me pay attention."

"Dex need pay attention, guts," said Gutsman.

"Mega tried to get me to pay attention, but it didn't work," said Lan. Mega just rolled his eyes and shook his head.

"Who wants to go and get ice-cream?" asked Tory.

"Me!" everyone exclaimed as they left for the ice-cream parlor.

MRMRMRMRMRMRMRMRMRMRMRMR

"Chaud, I just got an email back from Megaman," said Protoman as he read it quickly. He was in his PET and had been trying to cheer Chaud up for the past two hours. "He says that it is ok for you to stay as long as you need to."

"Should we go now, or wait until the old man leaves?" Chaud asked as he took a look around his desk.

"We should go now," said Protoman, "and go and get some clothes and other things for you at home."

"Ok," said Chaud as he stood up and walked out of the room.

"Are you going home, sir?" asked the secretary as he walked past her.

"Yes, I am exhausted from earlier. I will be taking a vacation for the next few weeks, so I won't be in tomorrow," said Chaud as he walked to the door. "Good bye."

"Goodbye then, sir," she replied as she returned to typing on her computer. Chaud left the building and walked to his home. When he arrived, he went straight to his room, set the PET in its charger, and pulled out a duffel bag. He packed a few shirts, pants, and other clothes. Continuing to his desk, he picked up laptop and put that in the bag too. When he was finished packing, he took the PET off the charger, and put the charger in the bag.

"I'm ready. Did Mega say when I could come over?" he asked as he headed towards the front door.

"Yes, he said that you could come over any time you wanted to," Protoman said as they left the house.

"Well, let's get over there now. What time is it?" asked Chaud.

"It's three, it's going to be ok?" asked Protoman as Chaud left the grounds and headed towards the Hikari's.

"I know," Chaud replied as he boarded the subway.

**End Chapter**


	3. Homework

Due to a request from my Beta reader, who is really nice to me, I will shorten Protoman to Proto. That will be how it is for the rest of forever!

**Begin chapter**

Lan and his friends were enjoying a wonderful day eating ice cream while their Navi's were out hanging out in Net City. Gutsman and Iceman took Ring on a tour, while Mega and Roll were taking a nice walk. Lan and Dex were having an ice-cream eating contest, and everyone was waiting for one of them to either pass out or throw up. "This is the best!" exclaimed Lan as he finished his fifth chocolate ice-cream cone. "I'm still going to beat you Dex!"

"Yeah right," said Dex as he finished his fifth too, "there is no way you can eat more than me. You're just too small."

"So you have to be big and fat to eat a lot?" whispered Mary to Maylu. The two girls started to laugh.

"What's so funny?" asked Dex as he looked at the girls like they were crazy. "He can't eat as many as me because he has no where to put it." This comment sent the girls into peals of laughter.

"Dex," said Tory as he finished his first ice-cream and sat back in his chair, "I think that you would like to know that Lan just went to get his sixth ice-cream."

"WHAT, GET BACK HERE LAN HIKARI! YOU'RE NOT GOING TO BEAT ME!" yelled Dex as he took off after Lan and to the counter.

"Are they always like this?" asked Mary.

"Yes, they are. Well, they were before what happened after the race. But Dex said he was sorry and he served his time and he obviously learned his lesson, so we have decided to put that behind us," said Maylu as she pulled out her PET. "Roll, how's everything in the net?"

"Everything is fine here. Have Lan or Dex thrown up yet?" Roll asked while Mega, who was barely visible from the screen, tried not to laugh.

"No, not yet, but I think that Dex will barf soon. I have seen Lan eat twelve ice-cream cones without getting horribly ill, but I don't know about Dex," said Maylu as Lan and Dex returned to the table with their ice cream. "They just got back with their sixth ones."

"Tell Lan that he needs to get home soon," said Mega. "Chaud is coming over and he might already be there."

"Ok, you two have fun," said Maylu as she ended the transmission and put her PET away.

"Uggh," said Dex, who looked a little green. "I…. have…. to…..finish…..this…..ice-cream." Dex shoved the last bit of cone in his mouth, and ran to the trashcan and tossed his cookies.

"I win," said Lan who had finished his sixth ice-cream barf free. "I got to go home now. Bye!"

"Bye!" everyone, except Dex who had just run into the bathroom to throw up again, said as they watched Lan get his stuff together.

"Maylu, can you tell Mega to go home when he is done with whatever he is doing?" asked Lan as he headed towards the door.

"Sure, and if you need help on the homework, call, or Mega will do call me," she replied as Lan left the ice-cream parlor.

"Can do," said Lan as he started skating towards his home. He took a shortcut through the park, and was at his home in no time at all. "Mega, time to go home," he said as he pulled out his PET and opened a window.

"Ok, let me finish what I was doing. I'll be home in a minute tops," he said. Lan closed the screen and crossed the street to his home.

MLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLML

"Sorry Roll, I have to go," said Mega as he and Roll neared the ice-cream parlor's page.

"Thanks for going on a walk with me," she said with a small smile.

"I guess I'll see you tonight because I know Lan didn't pay a bit of attention," he replied. He then pulled Roll into a tight hug and gave a quick peck on the cheek. "Bye."

"Bye," replied a blushing Roll, who was just about to enter the page. When she did, Mega logged out.

"Lan, I'm back," said Mega. When he looked out of his PET, he saw that Lan was in his living room talking to Chaud.

"Ok, why don't you get in the house system and chat a bit?" asked Lan as he turned towards his PET.

"You need to get started on your homework," said Mega as he entered the home link.

"I'll do it later. I'm talking right now," he said as he got back to his conversation.

"Is he always like that?" asked Proto as soon as Mega appeared.

"Yes, unfortunately, he is. Are you ok?" asked Mega back. Proto sighed and sat down on one of the chairs.

"I'm just really worried about Chaud. I wasn't there when he was attacked, and I feel like I can't do anything to help. I'm really worried about what will happen to Chaud when Mr. Blaze finds him here," said Proto with another sigh.

"Hey, you and Chaud are safe here," reassured Mega. "And if Mr. Blaze does come, Lan can sneak him out of the house. It's not like Lan doesn't have practice doing that."

"Why does he sneak out?" asked Proto with a look of confusion on the part of his face that Mega could see.

"Well, he sneaks out to do net saver things, and to take up bets with Dex," said Mega, stifling a laugh. Proto did one of his famous half smiles.

"What did you just tell him?" asked Lan who had appeared on the screen on the wall of the page.

"Nothing," said Mega sarcastically.

"Is Maylu going to help me with my homework soon," Lan questioned, "because I'm clueless."

"Don't you pay attention in class?" asked Chaud, who was looking at Lan like he was a space alien.

"Um," began Lan as Mrs. Hikari walked into the room, "Of course I pay attention. I just have trouble understanding it. Why don't we go to my room so I can start my homework?" Lan grabbed his bag and ran up the stairs with Chaud following, but walking instead of running. Mega and Proto followed in the net to Mega's homepage.

"Here is my room," said Mega as Proto entered his room.

"Nice. I figured that your room would be blue since mine is red," Proto commented as he walked over to Mega's desk (A/N: the rooms are furnished). "So what do you do while Lan is doing his homework?"

"I make sure that he is doing his work. Most of the time he slacks off," he replied. "But when Lan is done with his homework, or is just putting it off, I go to Net City or I watch TV with Lan."

"Ah, I usually organize the folders on Chaud's computer," said Proto.

"What are you two talking about?" asked Lan as the screen on the wall turned on.

"Lan," said Mega, slightly annoyed.

"Yes,"

"DO YOUR HOMEWORK!" yelled Mega. Lan rolled his eyes and opened his book.

"Mega, can you see if Maylu is home yet? I really need her help," said Lan as he looked at the page of problems.

"Why don't you get Chaud to help you?" asked Mega. "He's right there."

"I also need to copy Maylu's notes from class. We have a note check tomorrow," Lan said sheepishly.

"You didn't take notes in class?" asked Chaud, who was looking at Lan like he was crazy.

"No, not really," said Lan as he pulled out his notes page. It was a sheet of notebook paper with doodles and a few notes on it. "If I turn this in, Ms. Mari will know that I don't pay attention, and then I'll get detention."

"I told you to pay attention three times during that class," sighed Mega. "The bad thing about Lan getting detention is that I have to stay too, and it is very boring," he whispered to Proto.

"Maybe his teacher will let you off the hook, and you can go and do something," suggested Proto.

"Maybe. Lan tried to use the fact that I get stuck in it too to get me to take notes, but I told him 'hell no, you need to learn it, not me'. I swear he is going to get in major trouble one of these days," said Mega, shaking his head.

"So Maylu offered to tutor him?" asked Proto as he watched Chaud try to explain the problem to him.

"No, I asked Roll, and she asked Maylu. I REALLY hate detention," said Mega.

"Why don't you go and see if Maylu is home now so she can come over and help. It looks like Chaud is only confusing him more," said Proto as he took a look at the screen where Lan and Chaud were discussing the book.

"Ok, I'll be back soon. Could you tell Lan where I am if he asks?" Mega asked as he opened a link to Roll's homepage.

"Sure," said Proto. Mega went through the link and arrived outside of Roll's page. He rang the doorbell and waited for a response.

"COMING!" came Roll's voice through the door. "Hey Mega, come in." Mega smiled and followed Roll into her room. Maylu had been chatting with Roll, and so the screen was on.

"Lan is trying to figure out the homework, and can't," said Mega to Maylu. "Chaud is trying to explain it, but I think that he is confusing Lan more. Could you come over now?"

"Sure, why don't you and Roll go back through your link, and I'll be over there in a second," said Maylu as the screen turned off.

"Is Proto there?" asked Roll.

"Yeah, he is staying in the guest link while Chaud is staying in the guest room," said Mega as he went through the link with Roll. They arrived in Mega's room just in time to see Maylu arrive. Proto made a signal for them to be quiet and to go over to the screen. When they came over, they saw Maylu smack Lan over the head, and Chaud shake his head.

"Hell no Lan. I WILL NOT LET YOU COPY MY NOTES!" screamed Maylu, while Lan flinched. "You need to pay attention IN CLASS! Now, you are going to pay attention while I try and beat this into your thick skull, or else." Lan and Chaud gave each other a look of "I _really_ don't want to know what the 'or else' is." Maylu began to teach Lan, and Mega turned off the screen.

"So Mega, what do you and Roll usually do while they are working?" asked Proto.

"We usually go to Net City and hang out. Why don't I ask if we can go right now?" asked Mega as he turned the screen back on. "Lan, can Roll, Proto, and I go to Net City?"

"Sure," answered Maylu, "Just be back by four."

"Thanks," said Mega as he closed the window. "Well, let's get going then." And with that, the three went to Net City to hang out.

MLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLML

"Mr. Blaze, is something wrong?" asked the secretary. She knew that Chaud was taking a vacation, but she didn't know why Mr. Blaze was so angry.

"No, everything is fine. My vice-president is just being annoying," he replied.

"Did you finish reading the memo he sent you? He asked me if you could write your response, but only after you had read the memo," she replied.

"No, I have had other things on my mind than his memo, but I will read that now. Thank you Sandra," he said as he shooed the secretary out of the room. _"I wish that my secretaries weren't so intrusive when it comes to personal matters. What has my worthless son sent me this time?" _Mr. Blaze opened the memo and read the beginning of the paper. The beginning was a letter written from Chaud to his father.

Father:

I know that you may think that I am rash and that I am being a delinquent, but I just want you to know that no matter what you say, I will always have what's best for the business first. IPC is what you care about most, therefore IPC is what I care about most. I will never compromise what I want for what is best for our, no, your company. I know that you will probably think I am crazy when I pitch the idea, I thought that Jena was when she told me, but it would truly revolutionize the PET business if we partnered. I am not trying to explain why I am suggesting this here; I am trying to tell you that I will not sacrifice IPC for any personal gains.

Chaud

When Mr. Blaze finished reading this, he stopped and thought about what his son had written. _"He knew that I was going to get mad at him. He knew that before he even left the safety of his office. He understood that I would probably disown him, and yet he followed through with this idea of a partnership. I had better read what he wrote in the memo. I hope that this is worth my time." _With that he opened up the folder and began to read.

MLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLML

"Dr. Hikari," came Chief's voice over the telephone in Dr. Hikari's office. Dr. Hikari had gone back after the house was clean and lunch was over. Famous had come over and they were having a nice chat about the going on's of the day.

"Yes sir. What do you need?" the Dr. replied.

"I need to know why one of my Net Savers is not responding at his home or office," came Chief's annoyed reply.

"Sir," said Famous, "Chaud has just had a family tragedy, and he will be staying with the Hikari's for a while until things settle down again in his family."

"Well, tell him that I am sorry for him and that I hope that he is ok," said Chief as he hung up.

"Now Famous," said Dr. Hikari jokingly, "I didn't know that you are such a good liar. I will have to watch for that."

"Well, better lie than have a huge civil case that neither Blaze is ready for. I think that if Chief found out, he would ruin Chaud's father, and therefore the company. If Chief destroys the company, he will destroy Chaud," replied Famous as he shook his head and sighed. "I think that his father acted rashly, and didn't know what he was doing. It would be best if we let Chaud and his father work this out."

"I guess you are right. Well, I had better get home," said Dr. Hikari as he picked up his briefcase and walked out of the office. "Goodbye Famous."

"Goodbye Dr. Hikari" said Famous as he watched Dr. Hikari get in his car and drive home. "And good luck."

MLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLML

Dr. Hikari arrived home to find his wife cooking dinner, and his son, his son's best friend, and his son's partner watching TV. "Hello everyone," said Dr. Hikari, "How is everyone today?"

"Fine, Dr. Hikari," said Chaud, looking at Dr. Hikari for a second, before turning his attention back to the TV. They had finished helping Lan with his homework an hour ago, and their Navi's had returned a few minutes after they were finished.

"I'm okay, Dad," said Lan, "And how are you?"

"I have had an okay day," said Lan as he stood up and went to the kitchen. "Is dinner ready yet, Mom?"

"It will be ready in a minute, Lan. Be patient," said Mrs. Hikari as she shooed Lan out of the kitchen. Lan returned to the sofa and sat down by Maylu.

"I should get going now," said Maylu as she stood up and headed towards the door. "Do you get homework now?"

"Yes, thanks," said Lan as Maylu left.

"Does she always help you with your homework?" Chaud asked.

"No, sometimes Mega helps," Lan replied as Dr. Hikari walked into the kitchen.

"What's for dinner tonight honey?" asked Dr. Hikari as he went over to look in the pot of soup that his wife making. "Beef stew. Looks good."

"And it's ready. Come and get it," she said as she put the stew on the table. Chaud and Lan sat down at the table while Dr. Hikari and Mrs. Hikari brought the rest of the silver ware and the rolls that she made to the table. Once everyone was seated, they served themselves and began dinner. Ten minutes later, they were all done.

"Thank you Mrs. Hikari. This was delicious," said Chaud as he took his bowl and spoon to the sink along with Lan.

"Yeah mom, that competes with your spaghetti," commented Lan as he left the kitchen for his room.

"I'm glad you think so, but bedtime. You have school tomorrow, and I know that you won't wakeup on time if you stay up," said Mrs. Hikari as she pointed towards Lan's room. "Go to bed now. Chaud, I'm not your mother, but it would be best if you went to bed now too."

"Ok," said Chaud as he followed Lan up the stairs and caught up with him. "Is your mom always so pushy?"

"Not always, but most of the time," said Lan as he got to his room. "'night"

"'night," said Chaud as he went to the guest room. "So Proto, how was your afternoon?"

"It was ok Chaud. And yours?" he asked again.

"It was fine after Maylu hit Lan over the head with the book," he said. "I can't remember the last time that I had a bedtime."

"Me neither. So I guess that you should go to bed though. You have had a long day," said Proto as Chaud got ready for bed.

"Thank you," Chaud said.

"No problem," said Proto, "Goodnight."

"Goodnight," said Chaud as he turned off the lights and went to sleep, feeling safe for the first time.

**End Chapter**


	4. School

**Begin Chapter **

"Chaud time to get up. It's six thirty," said Proto the next morning.

"Why do I have to get up now?" Chaud complained, half-asleep.

"Because you said that you needed to stay on your same schedule and because we were going to use the gateway chip on Mega so he can have an easier time waking Lan up. So, get up," said Proto as Chaud got out of bed and changed into his regular clothes.

"Ok, let's go," said Chaud as he walked into Lan's room and over to his computer. "Mega, is it time to get Lan up?" whispered Chaud to the computer. Mega, who had woken up when he heard Chaud enter the room, looked over at his clock.

"Yeah," he said, "do you have the Data chip so I can get back in the net when I am done?"

"Here it is," said Chaud as he looked into Lan's chip folder. "And here is the Gateway Chip. Proto and I will be in our room. I'll be 'asleep' and Proto will be in sleep mode." He slotted in the Gateway chip and left the room as soon as Mega appeared in Lan's room. Chaud snuck out of the room and back into his and waited for the scream.

Meanwhile, in Lan's room, Mega had grabbed a pillow from the floor where it had fallen the night before, and smacked Lan over the head with it. "OW, What the heck!" screamed Lan as he looked around for his assailant. After looking around for a few seconds, he saw Mega. "What, but, how did you get out of the computer?" he stuttered as Mega stood there trying not to laugh.

"Well, Chaud slotted in the gateway chip last night so I could get you up, but he is probably still asleep," added Mega as he watched Lan get up and head towards the desk.

"You're right," said Lan as he walked over to his computer and looked out his window and saw that Maylu's light was on while the screensaver turned off. "Maylu's up? I didn't know that she woke up this early."

"Yeah, well, can I get back to the computer now?" asked Mega. Lan nodded his head and slotted in the Data chip and watched as Mega was transferred into the computer.

"I still don't get how that works. I mean the chip was designed to change you to data and then transfer you to the computer," said Lan, obviously dumbfounded.

"The chip makes sure that the person/Navi that it is transferring is data before the transfer, and if he/she isn't, it changes the person to data and then transfers. If they are, they are automatically transferred. Clear as mud, right?" asked Mega as he watched Lan mull this over.

"Yes, but I'll pretend that I understand," said Lan as he started to get ready for school. "I can't remember the last time that I was up this early."

"You have been up this early before?" joked Mega as he watched Lan get his books together.

"On second thought, no, I haven't. I think that I have everything ready to go. What should I do now, since school isn't for an hour," said Lan as he picked up his PET and backpack and walked into the hall, and almost bumped into Chaud.

"Lan, do you think that you yelled loud enough," said Chaud who looked like he had been rudely awakened by Lan's scream, "I think that someone on the far side of town heard you. What in the world has gotten into you?"

"Shut-up, you put the Gateway chip in the computer for Mega to use, and he hit me and startled me. You had it coming to you," said Lan as Chaud's mask of anger and exhaustion broke and he snickered at Lan.

"Well, is anyone else up? I'm hungry," said Chaud as he walked downstairs. When he got to the bottom, there was Mrs. Hikari making breakfast for the two of them.

"Morning Mom," said Lan as he sat down at the table.

"Morning Lan, and hello Chaud. Did the two of you sleep well?" she asked as she set a stack of pancakes on the table. Lan and Chaud each grabbed two and began to eat.

"Yes ma'am, I did sleep well, thank you" said Chaud in between bites. Lan just shook his head as he finished his and took two more.

"Well good, Lan, save some of those for your father," said Mrs. Hikari as Lan finished his second helping.

"I'm done anyways, and I'm bored anyways. Mega, why did you wake me up so early?" Lan asked.

"Because you need to get to school on time, or else Ms. Mari will get really mad. You remember what happened last time," said Mega. Lan replied by wincing at the memory.

"What did she do?" Chaud asked, looking at Lan.

"She threw three markers at me, and hit me, Maylu, and Dex. She doesn't have the best aim in the world," said Lan as he looked at the clock. "Seven o'clock. Should I leave now?"

"Yeah, I think that Mary and Maylu are going to be there," said Mega as Lan stood up and headed towards the door.

"Ok, Chaud, you want to come with me to school today?" asked Lan as he stopped at the door.

"I have nothing better to do. Should I change clothes?" he asked as he stood up from the table.

"Yeah, I bet that if you wore a hat people wouldn't recognize you," said Lan as he started towards his room. "Let's go and see what I can find."

"Ok," said Chaud as he followed Lan back upstairs. They went to Lan's room, and he found Chaud a pair of regular blue jeans and a red t-shirt.

"I have never worn these. I think that my dad sent me the shirt from somewhere," said Lan as he handed the clothes to Chaud. Chaud took the clothes and went to his room to change. A few minutes later he came out.

"How do I look?" he asked.

"I can hardly recognize you. But I still can, so here is a black hat that should match," said Lan as he tossed the hat to Chaud. He put the hat on and Lan gave a nod of approval. "Let's go and see if Maylu is ready to go now." Lan ran down the stairs with Chaud following closely behind him. They reached Maylu's house right as she was walking out the door. "Hi Maylu."

"Lan? You're here early. May I ask why? Oh, hi Chaud. I barely recognized you," she said as she noticed who the boy with Lan was.

"That was the point. I decided to see what school is like," he said as they began walking.

"Didn't you go to school?" asked Lan.

"No, I had tutors though. I may have gone to preschool, but I'm not sure," said Chaud as he tried to remember.

"Oh, well, you are going to see what it's like today," said Lan as the school came into view.

"Um, Lan, do you have a plan on how to get him into class?" she asked as she caught sight of the rest of their group.

"As a matter of fact I do, he is one of my friends from Houston. What do you want your name to be?" he asked Chaud as they entered the school grounds.

"Hey Lan, who's your friend?" asked Dex, who couldn't for the life of him recognize the extra boy.

"Hi, I'm Ryuu , I'm visiting Lan from Houston," said Chaud, remembering where he was supposed to be from.

"Hi, I'm Mary. I'm from Netopia and I am staying with Yai," said Mary, walking over to shake Chaud's hand.

"Nice to meet you," he replied as the bell rang.

"Time for class," said Tory as they began to walk towards the building. Chaud lagged to the back of the group, and Lan went over to see what he was doing.

"What's the matter?" he asked.

"What if someone, i.e. all of your friends, recognized Proto," said Chaud as he watched the rest of the group go inside.

"Lan, Ryuu, you coming or what?" asked Dex from the door.

"Tell Ms. Mari that I need to take Ryuu to the office to get him checked in, and that I'll be in ASAP," said Lan as he looked at Dex. Dex nodded his head and walked into the building. "I think that I have a blank fashion chip, here it is. You can change what he is wearing to whatever you want." Chaud slotted in the chip, and a popup screen came up with menus and color selection.

"Ok, Proto, you are going to be wearing a purple jumpsuit, with a matching helmet. Your visor won't be the same shape, but it'll look more like sunglasses. And your hair will be black, and your symbol will be inverted," said Chaud as he entered the colors and specifications into the chip. "This isn't permanent, is it?"

"No, it'll last until you take it out, though. I'll give you that chip later. And here is a sticker to put over the symbol on your PET. We had better get to the office now," said Lan as he ran into the building with Chaud right behind him. "The office is right here." Lan and Chaud walked into the principal's office and up to the secretary's desk.

"Lan, please tell me that you didn't get in trouble already," said the secretary.

"No, I need to get a pass for my friend from Houston," said Lan.

"And his name is…,"

"Ryuu," said Chaud as the Secretary wrote his name on a nametag and gave Lan a pass for class

"Lan, try to be on time next time," she said a she handed Lan a pass for class. Lan thanked her and he and Chaud left the office and headed towards Ms. Mari's class.

"Lan, nice of you to join us. Would you please sit down. And who is your friend?" asked Ms. Mari as she took Lan's note telling her where he was.

"I'm Ryuu, and I'm from Houston," said Chaud as Lan took his seat.

"Well, you can go and in the empty seat behind Mary for now. Now class, please pass your homework up," said Ms. Mari as class began.

MLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLML

At lunch Lan, Ryuu Dex, Mary, Maylu, and Tory went to the cafeteria to buy lunch. "So, what do they expect us to eat today?" asked Tory as they got in line.

"Um, it looks like chicken, or fish, or mystery meat," said Lan as he looked at the dishes. "Can I get a hamburger?" he asked the lunch lady as she put the burger on a bun. Lan slid his tray down the line.

"Could I get a salad?" asked Ryuu. The lady took some salad and put it in a bowl for Chaud. He slid the tray down behind Lan and waited to pay.

"I'll get it," said Lan as they got to the pay place. He paid and they went to go and sit down at their group's table. They ate in silence for a few minutes, when Mary finally broke it.

"You know Ryuu, you are the only other person who sits here who gets a salad other than me," said Mary.

"Well, everything else didn't look edible," said Ryuu.

"Oh," said Mary looking sort of downcast.

"Did I say something wrong?" Chaud asked Lan.

"No," he answered, "it's just that Mary has a health problem, and so she has to watch what she eats."

"Oh, I'm sorry Mary, I didn't know," Ryuu said. _"Great, my first day as a normal kid and I have already messed things up."_

"It's okay Ryuu, I should have known that you wouldn't know that. It's really okay," said Mary. "So, who is your Navi?" Ryuu pulled out his PET and showed them the purple Navi inside.

"His name is Ronin," said Chaud.

"Ronin, that's a strange name," said Maylu, who was looking at Ryuu, wondering where he had gotten that name from.

"Yes, Ronin. It means Samurai without a master," sighed Ryuu.

"I bet you get that a lot," said Mary. He shook his head in agreement.

"Hey, do you know who he looks like?" asked Dex. "Protoman!" Lan and Maylu both held their breath, waiting to see what Chaud was going to say to that.

"Yes," said Ryuu, "that is because Chaud is my cousin."

"Oh, well, that makes sense," said Tory as the bell rang for the afternoon classes. They all threw their trash away and headed for the afternoon classes.

MLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLMLML

"I can't believe we got to make putty," said Lan after school. Everyone started to laugh, including Chaud.

"Well, it was a science class," said Maylu. "I need to get home now, see you tomorrow."

"Bye!" said Mary, Dex, and Tory.

"We had better go too, bye," said Lan as he and Chaud took off after Maylu.

"That was a close one at lunch today," said Maylu when the boys caught up with her.

"Yeah," said Lan, "How did you know what Ronin meant, anyways?"

Chaud looked down and waited a few moments before answering. "Well, I knew that a day would come when I was going to have to go into hiding. Either because of my company or being a Net Saver. So I had most of this planned out for a while," he replied.

"Oh," said Lan, "so, what does Ryuu mean?"

"Ryuu means dragon," said Chaud as they neared the houses.

"Well, it's good to know that we didn't have to cover for you all day, but just part of it," said Maylu. They had reached their houses, and Maylu went inside. "See ya later."

"Bye," said both boys as they entered Lan's house.

When they walked in, they saw that the entire house had gone under a very thorough cleaning. "Hello boys," said Mrs. Hikari, "I would appreciate it if you didn't track dirt into the house today. I just got through cleaning it."

"Yes ma'am," they replied as they went upstairs to their rooms.

"So," said Lan, "are you going to school with me tomorrow?"

"I don't know, should I?" Chaud asked.

"Yeah, I think that it's time for you to be social," said Lan. "We are going to have to change your hair style, and your PET for when we are at school. We should also go and get you some different clothes."

"Okay, can we go now? I know that you aren't going to be doing homework," said Chaud. Lan laughed and he and Chaud left the house. They went to the mall, and got a whole new wardrobe. They also stopped by the PET store and got Chaud a new PET cover.

"That should take care of ya for a while," said Lan as they left the last store and headed for the food court. "You want a drink?"

"Sure," he replied as they got to the counter.

"I would like a Coke," said Lan.

"And I would like a Dr. Pepper," said Chaud. The lady at the counter gave them their drinks and they left the mall. "Lan, why are you doing this for me?"

"Because you are my partner, and you are having a hard time. I'm just trying to help ya out. We had better get home before Mom starts to worry," said Lan as he dragged Chaud out of the mall and towards his home.

"_What did I do to deserve such good friends?"_ he thought to himself as he remembered all the people who were kind to him over the past two days.

**End Chapter**


	5. Mr Blaze WHAT?

**Begin Chapter**

"Chaud, are you almost ready?" asked Lan. They were about to leave for school, and Chaud was taking longer than Lan expected. "We're going to be late if you don't hurry up."

"I'm coming," said Chaud as he opened the door and stepped out into the hall. He was wearing blue jeans, a black t-shirt, and white tennis shoes. "I feel weird in these clothes."

"You'll get used to it, but come on. We've got to go!" said Lan as he ran downstairs and got his backpack and lunch. Chaud was close behind him, taking Lan's extra backpack (Ms. Mari insisted that he did the homework and came to class while he was there) and his lunch. The two boys said goodbye to Mrs. Hikari and ran out the door. Lan put on his skates, and Chaud grabbed Lan's skateboard and they started towards the school.

"What time does school start?" asked Chaud as he tried to keep up with Lan.

"8:25, but I need to get there early today," said Lan. Chaud looked at his watch and got a surprise. It was only 7:15.

"Lan," said Mega from his PET, "please tell me that you did all of your homework last night."

"Yeah, I did, but Dex challenged me to a Net battle before school," said Lan as they neared the school. They entered the schoolyard to see Dex, Tory, Maylu, and Mary waiting for them in the front.

"Morning Lan, ready to get beat?" asked Dex.

"In your dreams. Jack in Megaman, power up!" Lan said as he sent Mega to the battlefield. When Mega arrived, he found out that the match was a cage match, and that there was an audience of Roll, Ring, Ronin, Iceman, and Navi's of other students.

"Good morning Gutsman," said Mega as he looked at his opponent.

"'Morning, Guts. Mega ready to be beat by Guts?" asked Gutsman.

"You wish," said Mega as the Battle Start sign came up. Mega ran at Gutsman and shot him with a charged shot. Gutsman punched at him, but he jumped to dodge and shot him again with another charged shot. He landed and looked at Gutsman, who looked mad at the two free shots that Mega had just landed.

"Mega, here comes a shotgun," said Lan as he sent the chip. Mega used it as soon as he got it. He shot Gutsman in the chest and dodged a punch. Lan sent him a sword, and Mega got it when Gutsman threw another punch. Mega blocked it with his sword, and slashed Gutsman in the stomach. This sent Gutsman into a blind rage. He started to throw random punches, and Mega had to climb to cage to get out of range.

"Uh, Lan, could you please send me a Dash Condor and a long sword?" asked Mega from his spot near the top of the cage.

"Sure thing," said Lan as he sent the chips. Mega jumped on the Condor and flew around Gutsman, trying to make him dizzy. When Gutsman was starting to look disoriented, he flew down towards Gutsman, and sliced at his legs, and Gutsman fell over and tried to grab Mega, but he had already flown back to his spot on the cage.

"Lan, all I need now is an M Cannon," said Mega. Lan sent it and Mega shot Gutsman, causing him to log out. The Battle Over sign flashed as Mega jumped back to the ground. The cage disappeared, and Roll ran over to congratulate him.

"You were great!" she said as she jumped on him.

"Thanks Roll," said Mega as he walked off the battlefield towards his friends. He was congratulated by all of the Navi's, and even Gutsman was logged in to say "good game" before leaving to get repaired.

_BBBBBBBBRRRRRRRRRRRRIIIIIIIIIINNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGG!_

"Time for class," said Lan as the group dispersed to their classrooms. Everyone started towards his or her classes, including the Navi's.

"Mega," said Ronin, who was lagging towards the back of the group again. Mega walked over to see what he needed, "No wonder you and Lan are such good opponents."

"Thanks," said Mega with a half smile, "I'll take that as a compliment." He and Ronin walked into the classroom and over to their NetOp's desks and got ready for the day.

MRMRMRMRMRMRMRMRMRMRMR

"Mr. Blaze, is something wrong?" asked the secretary as her boss walked into his office.

"No, I'm just not getting as much sleep as I should. I'll be fine as soon as I get working," he said. He walked in the room, and shut the door. _"I'm just worried about Chaud. He's been gone for two days, and he hasn't called, emailed, or contacted me at all. I know that he can take care of himself, but why hasn't he contacted me?"_ he thought as he opened the memo again. He began to read the benefits again as the secretary came back into the room.

"Mr. Blaze," she said, looking at the working man.

"Yes Sandra?" he asked as he looked at her.

"I was just wondering where Chaud is. I need to send him a document," she said.

"I thought that you said that he was on vacation," sighed Mr. Blaze.

"Well, that's what his secretary told me," she said.

"Then why are you going to bother him? He went on vacation without taking any work, so he wanted to relax." Mr. Blaze was beginning to feel anxiety and anger boil up at the thought of his son.

"I'm sorry. This will have to wait until he gets back," Sandra said as she began to exit the office.

"Sandra, I'll look over the document. Just leave it on my desk," he said. Sandra walked back into the room, and put the document on his desk, and walked out. _"I had better call Ayano Tech before Mr. Ayano leaves,"_ he thought. _"I just wish that I knew where my son is so I could let him know that he was right, that I was wrong, and that I am sorry."_ Mr. Blaze reached for the phone and dialed the number for Ayano Tech.

MRMRMRMRMRMRMRMRMRMRMR

Yai had been working nonstop since Chaud went into hiding to make sure that her father was ready for a call from IPC. "Dad, do you have the memo?" she asked as the secretary got the call that they had been waiting for.

"Yes, Yai, for the fifth time, I have it. You can transfer the call to me now," he said as the secretary transferred the call. Yai left the room to go back to her office.

"_I should go to lunch at school today and see how Mary is doing,"_ she thought as she entered her office. "Glyde, have we gotten any new emails?"

"Yes, Miss Yai, we have gotten one from Lan. It says that the battle with Dex was won by Lan, that Chaud and Protoman are going to school for the week, and that they are going by the names of Ryuu and Ronin," said Glyde from the computer.

"Ok, now which is which?" Yai asked, confused.

"Chaud is Ryuu and Protoman is Ronin," explained Glyde

"Ok, well, we should go and visit them at lunch," she said as she looked at the clock. "Lunch is in thirty minutes. We had better get going." She logged Glyde out and headed towards her limo. She got in the limo and told the driver to go to the school. They arrived at the school thirty minutes later, and walked into the cafeteria. "Hello everyone!" she said as she walked over to the table.

"Hello Yai," said Lan. "Do you want to sit with us?"

"Sure. Mary, how is your day going?" she asked as she looked over at the blonde girl.

"It's been ok," she answered.

"And who is this?" Yai asked as she looked at Ryuu, even though she knew who it was.

"Oh, hi, I'm Ryuu. I'm from Houston," said Ryuu as he looked at Yai. "I'm Chaud's cousin."

"Oh, I know Chaud," Yai said, playing along. "He's a nice boy." Ryuu snickered a little bit and got back to his food.

"So," asked Maylu, "How is your company?"

"It's fine. I think that the major business deal is about to go through!" she squealed. Ryuu looked at her like she was crazy.

"Mr. Blaze accepted!" he asked, astounded that his father actually read his memo.

"Yes, well, he called my father to discuss it," Yai replied.

"Well, that's good," said Dex. "Has Chaud found out about this?" Ryuu looked back at his food and avoided eye contact.

"I don't know, but I think that he does," said Yai. "Well, I just came in to chat. I have to go now, Bye!" She left the table and exited the room.

"Is she always like this?" Ryuu asked. Mary just giggled.

"You have no idea. She is like this twenty-four seven!" she exclaimed. Ryuu snickered and looked at the pink limo that was exiting the school grounds.

"_I wonder why her father lets her help. She is so emotional. It would be easy to sway her opinion on a subject if you play through the heart,"_ he thought. "Well, I'm done. I think that I'll go back to class."

"Me too," said Mary. She and Ryuu left the cafeteria and walked back to the classroom. Ryuu turned to Mary to ask her a question.

"Mary, I heard that you had health problems, and, well, I don't mean to be rude, but, what are some things that you can do?" he asked. Mary thought for a minute before answering.

"I can go to the mall, movies, park, basically anything without major exercise," she replied as they walked into the classroom. "Why?"

"I was wondering if you wanted to do something after school," said Ryuu. "I mean, I don't really have all that many friends, and seeing as how we both are out of our normal lifestyles, why not do something together?" Mary smiled and sat down at her desk and Ryuu on top of it.

"Ryuu, I would love to do something with you after school. Do you think that Ring and Ronin would like to also?" she asked as she pulled out her PET. "Well Ring?"

"Sure, I don't mind. Do you Ronin?" she asked.

"No, its fine with me," he replied.

"Why don't we go and see a movie after school?" Ryuu suggested.

"Ok," said Mary as the bell rang and the rest of their classmates walked into the room. Ryuu went over to his desk and sat down.

"Ryuu, what's going on?" asked Lan as he sat down at his desk.

"Mary and I are going to the movies after school," said Ryuu as Mrs. Mari started class and they were forced to pay attention.

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"Well Dr. Hikari, how is Chaud doing?" asked Famous as Dr. Hikari was working on a new chip.

"He's going to be ok. But I believe that the sooner he gets home and talks with his father, the better," he responded. "In the meantime, help me with this chip." Famous looked at the Doctor with a small smile.

"I, and I'm sure that Chaud is too, am thankful that you are there to help," he said. Dr. Hikari smiled as he got back to work.

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School got out, and Chaud and Mary said good-bye to their other friends and started towards the movie theater. "What movie do you want to see?" asked Chaud.

"I don't know; I don't like scary ones, though. I heard that that movie Kikko-man is a good one," she said.

"Ok, then that's the movie that we are going to see," said Chaud as he got the tickets.

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"Lan, where is Ryuu going?" asked Dex as he watched Mary and Chaud walk off.

"They are going to see a movie," said Lan as he started towards his home with Maylu.

"Ok, well, I guess I'll see you tomorrow," said Tory and Dex as they left for their homes.

"So, Lan, what are you going to do tomorrow. It's a Saturday," said Maylu.

"I haven't really thought about it. How about we let Mega and Roll do whatever they want to, and we can go to the park or something," suggested Lan.

"Ok, as long as Mega and Roll behave," joked Maylu. Roll looked at her Op in mock shock.

"Maylu, why, how could you even suggest that I would do something bad?" Roll commented before breaking down into laughter.

"Ok, well, see ya," said Maylu as she left to go to her house.

"Bye," said Lan as he walked into his house. He went up to his room, put the PET on its charger, and flopped on his bed. Mega looked at his Op, wondering what he was doing.

"Lan, is something wrong?" he finally asked. Lan rolled over and looked at his Navi.

"I'm just wondering about Chaud. He is starting to open up, and I'm wondering if he is suffering from shock or something," said Lan.

"I think that he and Mary might have a lot in common, so, yeah, he is opening up. I think that it's great that he has some more friends," said Mega.

"Yeah, you're right. I just hope that he can smooth things over with his dad."

"Me too."

**End Chapter**


	6. Identity revealed

Guys, I really need some more reviews. Amen!

**Begin Chapter**

Ryuu and Mary walked out of the cinema and were walking towards Yai's mansion to drop Mary off.

"Ryuu, thank you so much for taking me to the movie. I finally got to see it!. I have been waiting since it came out to see it, but my parents didn't have time to take me. Thank you," she said. Ryuu smiled and blushed a little bit at all of the gratitude that he was getting for this small act.

"Don't mention it," he told her, "It's no problem." _"I just hope that my dad doesn't look at my credit card account and sees that I paid for a movie. He might be able to track me down,"_ he thought anxiously. Mary looked over and saw the hint of anxiety on his face.

"Ryuu, you aren't going to get in trouble when you get home, are you?" she asked.

"No, no, it's just that my dad is a control freak about my account, and he'll just ask a few questions. It's ok," he quickly replied. _"Well, I didn't lie entirely. My dad is a control freak about what I buy, and if he finds me, I will have to answer some questions."_ They were coming close to Yai's neighborhood, and Ryuu realized that he and Yai lived in the neighborhood. The route that they were taking was going to lead them right past his house.

"I love going this way. I get so see all of the big houses, including the Blaze mansion. It has to be my favorite mansion in Dentech," said Mary as they started to walk past Ryuu's true home.

"_Just keep walking, stay calm," _thought Ryuu was he began to speed up little by little. _"I don't look like I did when I left. They won't recognize me, just keep moving."_ They passed the house and turned onto Yai's street. "Mary, do you know if there is another way out of this neighborhood? One that isn't past the Blaze mansion?" he asked, steeling a glance over his shoulder to make sure that no one was following them.

"Why? I thought that Chaud was your cousin," she asked, with a little laugh.

"Yeah, well, Mr. Blaze would never let me go back to Lan's home, and I already saw Chaud," Ryuu lied as they walked up Yai's front path.

"Well, I'm sure that Yai knows a way out," she commented as they reached the front steps and rang the doorbell. Yai opened the door and let them in.

"Ryuu, I didn't know that you were coming over," Yai said, beaming at the nervous boy.

"Well, I'm just dropping Mary off. Yai, do you know a way out of your neighborhood that doesn't pass the Blaze mansion?" he asked while he quickly took in his surroundings.

"I suspect that you want to get back to Lan's house, correct?" she asked. Ryuu shook his head yes and she continued. "Well, I can let you out the back, which backs up to the street with Higsby's shop on it. I know that you can get back to Lan's home from there."

"Yes, thank you. How do I get to the exit?" he asked.

"Here," said Yai as she took Ryuu by the wrist and led him out the back door while Mary followed. She took them through the garden, and to a gate that was barely visible. "Here you go. Bye Ch-, I mean Ryuu!"

"By Ryuu," said Mary giving a confused look to Yai. Ryuu took the exit and started down the street. He was halfway to Higsby's shop before Proto spoke up.

"Chaud, do you really think that your father is going to be watching the street in front of your house like a hawk?" he asked, thinking that his Op was being paranoid.

"You never know, and please don't call me Chaud until we get to Lan's house," he whispered. "Why don't we stop at Higsby's shop on the way back to see what he has?" He walked into the shop and started to look at the display.

"Good afternoon young man. What can I help you with?" asked Higsby when he noticed Ryuu.

"I'm just looking right now. Do you have any rare chips for sale?" he asked, doubtful of seeing any in this dump.

"Well, I do have a few in here," Higsby commented, patting a safe that was behind the counter, "but not all of them are for sale." Ryuu rolled his eyes at the chip otakou and went to look at the chips. He already had all of them, but they were at his house.

"Which ones are for sale?" he asked. Higsby pointed to three of the fifty that he had. "Ok, well, I have all three of those chips. I think that I'll just get these."

He put nine chips on the counter.

"That will be 1000 Zenny. I'm sorry that it's so expensive, but all of those are program advance chips," said Higsby as Ryuu handed him his card.

"_Great, I know that if the old man looks at this that he's going to follow my trail back to Lan's,"_ he thought frantically. Higsby handed Ryuu his chips and wished him a good day. Ryuu then walked out of the store and toward Lan's house.

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Mr. Blaze was working on the partnership deal with Ayano Tech when he heard his phone ring. "Mr. Blaze here," he said as a voice with a British accent came through the receiver.

"Sir, you told me to keep a look out for anyone that looks even the remotest like you son, and I think that you would like to know that a boy who had the same hairstyle as your son walked past the mansion this afternoon with the young lady that is staying with the Ayanos," said the butler.

"Are you sure? Has he walked back past it?" Mr. Blaze asked hastily.

"Yes sir, I'm sure, and he hasn't walked past the house again. I am under the impression that he took another way out of the neighborhood."

"Thank you," said Mr. Blaze as he hung up. He minimized the contract and called his standard Navi. "139, go and bring me my son's credit card account summary." The Navi bowed and left the computer and Mr. Blaze. _"Chaud, please come home,"_ he thought as he stared out the window. _"I think that emailing him would be a good idea. I should also email Dr. Hikari, Chaud and Lan hang out together sometimes."_

Mr. Blaze picked up his telephone and dialed the number for Sci-Labs.

"Sci-Labs, how may I help you?" asked the secretary at Sci-Labs.

"Hello, this is the president of Blaze Quest. Please connect me with Dr. Hikari," said Mr. Blaze in an authoritative tone. The secretary connected him to Dr. Hikari's office.

"Dr. Hikari here," said Dr. Hikari.

"Dr. Hikari, this is Mr. Blaze. I was wondering if you know where my son is," he said, sighing.

"Chaud, you mean," Dr. Hikari began before Mr. Blaze cut him off.

"Dr. Hikari, please, I haven't seen or heard from my son in two days. I am worried sick about him. Could you please just tell me if you have seen him or not."

"I have a question that I would like to ask before I answer, do you know why Chaud ran away?"

"Yes, I lost my temper with him, threw things at him, and, and," he said before he started to cry. "I threw a paperweight at him out of pure rage, and I knocked him out. I'm so sorry. If you are going to see him, tell him that I am very sorry," said Mr. Blaze as he broke down into tears and hung up.

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Chaud arrived at the Hikari's home ten minutes after he left Yai's house. He walked in to find Lan watching TV with Maylu. They turned to look at the door when they heard it open, and were shocked when they saw Chaud walk in quickly and run up to his room. "What happened to him?" asked Lan.

"I don't know," said Maylu, getting up from the couch, followed closely by Lan, and ran up the stairs to the spare bedroom. The door was shut, and Maylu knocked on the door. "Chaud, are you ok?"

"Yeah Chaud, open the door and talk to us," said Lan through the door.

"Go away," came his muffled reply.

"Lan, Maylu, you can come in," said Proto. They opened the door to find Chaud sitting on the bed and looking at Proto angrily.

"Chaud, what's wrong?" asked Lan, walking over to the bed with Maylu.

"I had to walk past my house to take Mary to Yai's, and I have a feeling that my dad is going to find me," he said. Maylu got that "I'm thinking" look.

"I've got it," said Maylu, walking to the door. "I'll be back in a minute." She left the two boys alone in the room to talk. She went back to her house and went up her room. From there she went to her desk, pulled out some bottles, and threw them in a bag. Once she made sure that she had everything, Maylu went back to Lan's house, and went up to Chaud's temporary room. "I'm back, and I brought the solution to your problem Chaud!"

"What is it?" he asked, looking at the bag. She opened it and dumped it on the bed. Five colors of hair dye and other hair care products fell on the bed. The boys picked up a bottle each and stared at them.

"Why do you have blonde, brunette, and red hair dye?" Lan asked, looking at Maylu.

"Because I have to do Yai's hair and makeup all the time, and I grabbed some of my mom's stuff. I'll have to replace this, but it should help with the situation at hand," she said. Chaud replied by looking at the different hair dyes.

"You don't have any black hair dye, do you? I don't want to look weird," he said.

"I don't think that I have any, but I can go to the store and get some," she said. "I'll go now. Roll, do you want to stay here with Mega and Proto?"

"Sure, someone has to keep an eye on them," said Roll as she was jacked in. Maylu said goodbye and left.

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Maylu took the long way to the store, passing Yai's house to see if she or Mary needed anything while she was there. Yai said that she was good on her supplies, but Mary chose to go with Maylu. They walked past Blaze Mansion, and saw a butler looking out one of the open windows. "Young ladies, may I ask you a question?" he asked. The two girls stopped and looked at the elderly gentlemen.

"That depends on the question," said Maylu, getting defensive.

"Have either of you seen Young Master Blaze?" panted the butler, exhausted from running.

"No, and we really need to get going," said Maylu as she grabbed Mary's hand and started walking again. "I'm sorry that we couldn't be of any more help. I hope that you find him."

"Thank you," he said, walking back to the mansion. Maylu and Mary started back towards the beauty supply shop, and were a few blocks away from the mansion before they said anything.

"Maylu, I have a question," said Mary, hanging her head.

"What is it Mary?"

"Do you really know where Chaud is? I mean, does Ryuu know that his cousin is missing?" Mary sighed after she asked the second question.

"Mary, why don't I just take you back to Lan's house with me, and I'll explain everything there. In the meantime, we should get to shopping," Maylu answered as they entered the store.

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Dr. Hikari was packing up for the day when Famous arrived in his office. "Hikari, I heard that Mr. Blaze called. What did he want?"

"He wanted to know where Chaud was, but he cut me off before I could say anything. He just told me to tell Chaud that he is sorry," said Dr. Hikari.

"Well, I don't really think that he had a change of heart. He nearly killed his son when he threw the paperweight at him," said Famous.

"I think that he misses Chaud, and that he just now realized what he had, now that he has lost it," Dr. Hikari sighed as he thought about Lan, and how blessed he was that Hub survived for five years.

"I have no idea what a parent goes through when they lose their child, but I'm just concerned for Chaud's safety," Famous commented as he looked at Dr. Hikari thinking, knowing that his thoughts were on Hub. "It's late, and your sons are at home waiting for you, so you should get home." Dr. Hikari smiled and grabbed his bags, and left.

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Maylu and Mary finished shopping and arrived at Lan's house and went straight to Chaud's room.

"Ok, Mary, here we are. This is Ryuu's room," said Maylu as she opened the door. Chaud was lying on his bed, and Lan was sitting against the wall. Mary jacked Ring in and then she walked over to Chaud and sat down on the bed next to him.

"Hey Ryuu, how are you?" Mary asked.

"Uh, fine," he answered. He gave Maylu a "why-is-she-here?" look, before he turned his attention back to Mary.

"Ryuu, I have a question," said Mary.

"What is it?"

"Did you know that Chaud is missing?" Chaud froze, not expecting the question, and took a minute to answer.

"Mary, I don't know how to say this, but, my name isn't really Ryuu," he said slowly. Lan and Maylu looked at each other, and left the room. "My name is Chaud. I'm sorry that I didn't tell you sooner, but I've run away, and I don't want my father to find me."

"Why did you run away Chaud?" Mary asked. Chaud was a taken aback a bit; he expected Mary to not believe him, but she did.

"Well, it's a long story, and I don't really want to tell it, but to make a long story short my dad got mad at me because of a business deal, he threw a paperweight at me, knocked me out, and when I woke up, I ran for it," he said.

"I'm so sorry," Mary said as she threw her arms around him. This action startled Chaud, but he soon got over it and hugged her back. He began to tremble in sorrow when the memories resurfaced, and he felt Mary hold him tighter. "It's going to be ok Chaud. I'm sure that your father didn't mean it, and if anything else happens, you can come back to Netopia with me."

Meanwhile, Lan and Maylu were sitting in Lan's room and were chatting about school, and what they were going to do tomorrow. "So, should we go and see a movie?" asked Lan.

"Sure, and Mega and Roll can do whatever they want to," said Maylu. They looked over at the computer where Mega and Roll were talking.

"We're going to go to the park, and just call us if you need us," said Mega. All of the sudden Lan got an email. "Uh, Lan, email from Mr. Blaze. It says that we need to tell Chaud, if we see him that is, that his dad is extremely sorry, and that he needs to go home."

"Should we tell him?" asked Maylu, looking at the wall that Chaud's room was behind.

"Yes, it is his father, and it's his decision," said Roll as she took the email from Mega. "We should give this to Proto." Mega and Roll linked to the guest room, gave the email to Proto, and linked back to Mega's room.

"Lan, we may need to stay here and make sure that Chaud is ok tomorrow," said Maylu.

"No, Mary can take care of him," said Lan. "But if he needs us, we'll be there for him."

**End Chapter **


	7. Confessions

**Begin chapter**

The next day Mr. Blaze decided to take the day off. He and Mr. Ayano had been working on the contract for the past two days, and it was nearly completed. Mr. Ayano was spending the day with his daughter, and he suggested to Mr. Blaze that he should spend the day with Chaud. He said that he would do that, and he was currently in Chaud's room, searching for any sign of where his son was. _"Chaud is very neat and organized,"_ he thought as he looked in his son's closet. "_I can tell exactly what he took. He took a duffel bag, filled with,"_ he paused to look at the voids in the closet, _"two pairs of pants, three shirts, and, not much else."_ Mr. Blaze walked out of the closet and over to his son's desk.

He opened the drawers, and received a shock when he saw that they looked like a tornado had just hit. He continued down the drawers until he found the battle chip one. He was surprised when he found it almost filled. He looked at the list that Chaud kept of all of his chips, and Mr. Blaze dumped the drawer and started to organize the chips, and counted them when he was through with that. _"He took the chips for program advances, some other swords, and various blasters. It looks like he just took his normal stash and didn't even bother with all the rare ones."_ Mr. Blaze sighed as he put the chips back in the drawer, and put the drawer back in the desk. He began to look through his son's other belongings, and he found the briefcase that he had given his son last year for his birthday.

_Flashback_

_Mr. Blaze was sitting in his office, the briefcase that he was going to give his son was wrapped in silver paper and was sitting on his desk. It was a nice one, it was metal and had a combination lock on the top of it. He had called his son to his office five minutes ago, and was expecting him any second. All of the sudden the door opened and Chaud walked in and up to his father's desk. "Happy Birthday Chaud," he said as he handed the present to his son. Chaud tore the paper off with little pomp and circumstance, and stared at his gift. _

"_Wow, thanks for the briefcase," Chaud had said, and Mr. Blaze saw that his son hated the present. "Bye."_

"_Goodbye, oh, and keep up the good work," said Mr. Blaze as Chaud left. He then pulled up a blank word document and began to order Navi's around. He was going to have his company sponsor a race for Net Navis, and decided to get a head start on that._

_End Flashback_

Mr. Blaze looked at the small dent on the side of the case. He remembered that later that day he had gotten a report that Chaud had tried to break the window with it. Mr. Blaze had shrugged it off and got back to work. _"I can't believe that I have missed out on being a dad. I could have at least invited him to a party, or given him a break every once in a while when he was little, but I had my head so far into the future that I missed the present,"_ he thought as he put Chaud's room back in order. When he was done, he walked down to the first floor, and took a position by the large bay windows to see if his son would come home.

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Chaud woke the next morning, thinking about the email that his dad sent to Lan. _"He sent it to Lan, not to me. He sent it to my rival/partner/friend, not his son,"_ he paused to listen to Mega scare Lan to wake him up. Chaud went into Lan's room every night about midnight to slot in the Gateway chip so that Mega would have a weapon to wake Lan with in the morning. Mega always woke Lan up around seven, and it was three till. "Proto, wake up, Mega's about to get Lan," he whispered. Proto woke up and got out of his bed. At exactly seven, an ear-piercing scream broke the silence of the morning. Chaud used this as his cue to get out of bed. About a minute after Lan woke up, he came barging into Chaud's room.

"CHAUD!" he yelled as he broke through the door. "HOW MANY TIMES DO I HAVE TO TELL YOU TO NOT SLOT IN THE GATEWAY CHIP? I LIKE TO SLEEP IN ON SATURDAY!" Chaud replied by shrugging.

"I don't know Lan, but you have your date with Maylu today," he said, getting out of his bed. "And I have my thing with Mary." Something registered in Lan's head when Chaud said the words "Maylu" and "date". He ran out of the room and into his to get ready. Chaud just chuckled and went over to his closet. He pulled out a pair of blue jeans and a tee shirt.

"Chaud, you might want to know that it's considerably colder than it was yesterday," said Proto as he checked the outside temp. Dentech had been unseasonably warm all winter, and it was finally getting cool. In fact it had dropped from high 70's to 50's and it was supposed to get cooler as the day wore on.

"Thanks Proto, I think that I'll wear that long sleeve black shirt under this red tee," he said as he pulled out the shirt. He put on his clothes, took the PET off the charger, jacked out Proto, and walked downstairs. He arrived in the kitchen to find Maylu already there, eating breakfast with Lan. "Morning Maylu."

"Good Morning Chaud, did you have a good night sleep?" she asked. Chaud walked over to a chair at the table and got some cereal.

"Yes I did, and you?" he asked back.

"It was fine. I have a feeling that Mega had some help getting Lan up this morning," she commented with a giggle. Lan shot Chaud a death glare, and Maylu began to laugh. "Now I know that Mega had help. What did you do?"

"I just slotted in a chip, that's all," he said, doing the "I'm did something wrong but I'm trying to look innocent" look. Lan chose this opportunity to fling some cereal at Chaud. The piece in question hit Chaud in the forehead, and he retaliated by flinging two pieces of food at Lan. Both hit Lan on the forehead. About this time, Lan's mom came into the kitchen, and threw both of the boys outside; and although Maylu wasn't specifically told to leave, she followed the two out the door.

"Good job Chaud, now you got us both kicked out of the house until nightfall," said a very annoyed Lan.

"Come on Lan," said Mega, "you know that you're just mad that you lost to Chaud."

"Correct," interjected Proto, "it would take years of training to beat Chaud. When he was little, he practiced firing peas at the other people at fancy restaurants."

"Ok, well, enough of this," said Maylu, "I want to go and do something." With this, she and Lan said goodbye to Chaud, and started walking towards the movie theater. Chaud looked at his watch, and started towards Yai's house to pick up Mary. Yai had given Mary a spare key to the back gate, and she gave it to Chaud when she found out who he was.

He arrived at Yai's house an hour after he had left Lan's because he got lost more than once, and when he opened the back gate, he saw that Mary was sitting out in front of Yai's pool in one of the chairs, waiting for him. "Hi Mary," he said, walking over to the reclining girl.

"Hi Chaud, I wasn't expecting you for another few minutes. Do you want to go into the house and warm up a bit?" she asked him. Chaud shook his head yes and walked into the house. Unfortunately for him, Mr. Ayano had just walked into the room as he did, and was almost immediately recognized by the older man.

"Good morning young man. I haven't seen you around here before, what is your name?" Mr. Ayano asked in a fatherly and warm tone.

"_What should I do? I know that my dad hasn't told anyone about me going missing, and especially not Mr. Ayano, but I can't tell him that I'm my cousin, because things will become to complicated,"_ Chaud thought frantically.

"This is Daniel," said Mary. She knew that Chaud was nervous about this situation, and she decided to cover for him. "He's my boyfriend from Netopia."

"Well Mary, I didn't know that you had a boyfriend. I'm sorry; I've been working on a contract with Blaze Quest and haven't really had the time to spend with my daughter and her pen pal (A/N: I don't really know how Mary and Yai met, but in my story, they are pen-pals). So Daniel, how has your day been so far?" Mr. Ayano asked.

"Well," Chaud replied, "It's been ok. I just got in this morning and haven't really had time to do anything. Mary and I were thinking about going to the carnival."

"Well, if you are, here's 600 Zenny for it. I know how stressful flying cross-country can be, and I don't really mind doing this. Mary, do you know where Yai is?" he asked, with a warm smile on his face.

"Yes sir, she's in her room asleep. She said that she was going to wake up around eight, and so she should be up soon." Right on cue, Yai came into the room. Mr. Ayano walked over to his daughter and gave her a hug. Chaud and Mary took this as their cue to leave. They knew that they couldn't get out the back door, so they were forced to go out the front. The main problem was that there was only one way out of the neighborhood, and that was past Blaze Mansion. "Chaud, we don't have to go now you know. We could go later when Mr. Ayano leaved with Yai."

"No, we need to go now so we can get to the carnival on time. And I know that my dad isn't going to take off work to go home and wait for me," he said as they started walking. "He doesn't care that much."

"Chaud, don't say that. He does care about you, just in a different way. Listen, I bet that he has been frantically searching for you since you left," said Mary, remembering the butler.

"Whatever," said Chaud as they started past Blaze Mansion. Chaud looked at his house, he quickly found his window. The shades were drawn like they normally were, but there was a light on in his room. Little did he know that his father had forgotten to turn it off when he left the room. They were almost to the gate when they heard a scream.

"CHAUD!"

Chaud turned around and saw his father running out of the house. "Chaud!" his father said again as he looked at his son. He looked in Chaud's eyes and saw fear, anger and confusion in them. Mr. Blaze ignored all of his son's emotions and pulled him into a tight hug. "Where were you?" he asked in a softened tone. "I was so worried about you, where have you been?"

"Dad?" Chaud asked, nervous about calling his father something loving, and about his father's mental state. His father was just as good, if not better, at hiding his emotions, but here he was, running and hugging his son in public. "Dad, are you ok?"

"Chaud, I have been worried sick about you. Please will you come home?" he asked, releasing his son. Looking at Chaud again, he sighed and asked again. "Will you and your friend come inside long enough for me to talk to you?" Chaud thought about this for a second before Mary spoke up.

"Of course we would like to come inside," she said as she walked over and linked her arm in Chaud's. Together they walked into the mansion, Mr. Blaze in the lead, followed by Chaud and Mary.

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Meanwhile, Lan and Maylu had slotted in fashion chips that put them in light jackets, jeans, and long sleeve t-shires, jacked Mega and Roll into the cyber park, and now the couple was walking towards the cinema. "Lan," said Maylu. "We should see the new Leonardo de Caprio movie."

"Ok, whatever you want to see," he said as they walked up to the box office. He got the tickets and the two of them walked inside. They handed their tickets to the usher, and he told them that their theater was going to be the fifth one on their right. Lan and Maylu went to go and get some popcorn and then they walked into the theater in time for the previews.

While their ops were sitting down to watch the movie, Mega and Roll had found a nice big tree to sit under in the park. It was much warmer in the Net. In fact, it was springtime. The tree in question was on top of a grassy hill with a little brook running at the foot of the hill. Mega sat down first, and Roll sat down right next to him.

"Mega," said Roll as she put her head on his shoulder. "I never really thanked you for saving my life all those times. In fact, I don't think that I have ever said that at all." She took her head off of his shoulder when she said that, and she looked down at the ground.

"Roll," said Mega, pulling her closer and putting her head on his shoulder again. "Roll, you don't have to say thank you for all of that. It doesn't really matter, and I don't mind that you haven't said thanks for what I've done. I need to thank you for being strong and being there for me." Roll sighed and tried to move her head, but when she started to remove it from his shoulder, he took it and pushed it right back where it was.

"Mega," she said, about to break into tears, "I don't deserve to be your friend. I'm too weak, and you deserve someone better." This time she tried to stand up, but Mega had a firm grip on her, and she just fell across his lap.

"Roll, look at me," he said, "I can choose whomever I want in the world, I know that. I know that many guy navis would love to have you also, but I beat them to you. I chose you, and I was lucky enough that you chose me too. Like it or not, you're mine." He ended his little speech with a tight hug and a soft kiss on the cheek. Roll began to cry a little. "Roll, what's wrong?"

"I'm sorry; I've just been really stupid these past few months. After the race and when you went to Houston, I thought that you didn't like me anymore and that you were going to get someone else." She paused to catch her breath before she continued. "But now I realize that I've just been stupid this whole time. Stupid, stupid, stupid." Mega's eyes widened as he heard what Roll said.

"No, Roll," he said, pulling her closer, "I would never want anyone other than you, no one. I have a question though," he said as Roll's tear stricken face looked at his. "Were you jealous of Jena?"

"Yes," she answered in a small voice. Mega laughed a little as he continued to hold Roll tight.

"Roll, I just want to let you know that when I was little, I considered Jena my sister, and I still sorta do. Trust me; there is nothing in between us. In fact, some of the nurses commented that we would also fight like siblings."

"What did you fight over?" Roll asked, drying her eyes on her jacket sleeve.

"Stupid stuff like who was going to plant the stink bombs; who was going to repaint the ICU sign; who was going to take the blame, and other stupid kid stuff." Roll laughed when he started naming the things that he did.

"My, weren't you the little delinquent," she joked. Mega started laugh.

"I guess I was. But I bet that I am the only person alive that has managed to successfully bypass security and rig fire drills and other stuff like that age five."

"You did? I don't even know you anymore, do I?" Mega responded by kissing her on the lips.

"Sure you do, you just know a little more about me, that's all." So the two of them sat there under the tree like that for the rest of the morning.

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Chaud and Mary walked into the den of the Mansion. Mr. Blaze went and sat in a rather large leather chair, and Chaud and Mary sat in another. "Chaud," Mary whispered while his father asked for some tea from the butler, "it's going to be ok."

"I know, but I don't want you to leave my side. I'm still afraid," he whispered back before he turned his attention to his father. "So dad, what did you want to ask me?"

"Chaud, I know that I haven't been the best of fathers, but I know that what I did was wrong. I shouldn't have thrown those things at you, and I'm sorry. Not only am I sorry about that, but I'm also sorry for what I did when you were little. I didn't let you be a kid. I took that away from you. And I wish that I could turn the clock back and be a better father to you. Chaud, please come home." Chaud looked like he was about to cry when his father was finished talking to him. Mary looked at both of the guys in the room. She saw the two of them avoid eye contact, both ashamed of what they had done.

"I think that your dad is serious when he said that," Mary said to Chaud. "Listen Chaud, you should think this over before you do anything. No offense to you Mr. Blaze, but we were going to go to the carnival today. And Mr. Ayano gave me some money, so there is no need for any from you."

"No offense taken young lady. I see that Chaud likes you, and I will wait for him no matter how long it takes him to decide. Go and have some fun," he said, standing up. Chaud walked out of the house with Mary, and the two of them started towards the carnival.

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Proto and Ring decided to walk to the carnival like their Op's were doing. They were close to their destination when Proto began to slow down. "Proto, what's wrong?" asked Ring when she noticed that Proto wasn't beside her.

"I'm just thinking," he answered.

"About what?"

"Mary and Chaud, and us." He looked away when he said the last part. Ring saw that, and she blushed. "I'm also thinking about how Yai will react when she finds out that Chaud and Mary are going out." Ring almost fell over laughing.

"I suspect that she's going to be ticked off. I know that she has her eye on him," Ring said as she tried to stop laughing.

"Yes, I'm just glad that Chaud likes someone that has a girl Navi." The two blushed as they walked into the carnival. Ring started to look around, and saw the huge roller coaster.

"Ooh, let's go on that first!" she squealed as she grabbed Proto's arm and yanked him towards the ride.

"_I guess that this is going to be one of these days,"_ he thought as he boarded the ride.

**End Chapter  
**


	8. Stories

**Begin Chapter**

After spending her quality time with her father, Yai decided to go and hang out with Dex and Tory for the afternoon. They were walking into the ice cream parlor when they saw Mary and Chaud walking towards the carnival. "What's going on?" asked Yai.

"Um, Yai, you may want to sit down," said Dex as he and Tory found a booth. Yai, curios, followed suit.

"Uh, I don't really know how to put this lightly," said Tory, "but I think that Chaud and Mary are seeing each other." Yai sat there for a minute, thinking about this before…-"

"WHAT!"

"Yai, calm down; we're in a shop," said Dex, casting a nervous glance over his shoulder and looking at the other patrons. Yai fumed for a second before she spoke again.

"I can't believe that my pen pal is going out with my, future boy- I mean, my future business partner," she quickly recovered. _"I can't believe that I almost called him my boyfriend. Luckily, Mary will be going home in a week, and the deal will be sealed by then. Then, Chaud will be mine!"_ She squealed when she thought the end.

"Yai, I thought that you were mad about Chaud and Mary. Why are you so happy all of the sudden?" Tory asked, scooting away from Yai.

"Oh, nothing, let's go and get some ice-cream now!" The boys, not wanting to upset her again, quickly got in line and they ordered the ice cream.

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Lan and Maylu left the movie theater and decided to stop by the park before they went shopping in downtown. They wanted to see how their Navi's were doing, and, mainly, what they were doing. "Where do you think that they would be?" asked Maylu as they entered the park grounds.

"I don't know, but knowing Mega, it's going to have a good view. He likes nature a lot," Lan replied as he looked around.

"Why?" asked Maylu, thinking about all of the destruction that he had caused. She thought that Mega would like blowing things up more than sitting down for two hours.

"I think that it's because of the hospital," said Lan, remembering the time that he spent there as a child. "I think that I may know why he likes the park, do you want me to tell you the story?"

"Sure," said Maylu, sitting down on the grass, followed by Lan.

_Flashback _

_Hub was lying in his bed, weakened from his medicine and pain killers, about to fall asleep when his parents and little brother came in. "Hub, how are you feeling?" asked Dr. Hikari. Hub looked up at him and tried to lift his head off of the pillow, but couldn't. _

"_Calm down," said Mrs. Hikari as she walked over to his son's side. "It's ok; don't talk, don't even move." Hub responded with a weak smile and looked over to his brother. _

"_Hey Lan," he whispered. Lan ran over, jumped on his brother's bed, and gave him a big hug. "How are you doing?"_

"_Just fine! Guess what I got to do today!" the young boy squealed, almost jumping up and down on the bed. Hub smiled. _

"_What did you do today?" he whispered. _

"_I got to go to the park! I brought you something," said the two year old. He jumped off the bed and ran over to his parents. Mrs. Hikari handed him something that Hub couldn't see. Lan ran back and jumped on the bed again. "I found this for you. It's your favorite color!" Lan handed Hub a single blue jay's feather. _

"_It's so cool, thanks Lan," Hub said as he gathered enough strength to pull his brother into a hug. Lan returned the gesture with double the strength. _

"_Lan, what did I tell you?" said Dr. Hikari when he thought that Lan was hugging to hard. _

"_Sorry papa, sorry Hub," said Lan as he got off the bed and hung his head. _

"_Hey, it's ok. You didn't hurt me or anything," said Hub. Lan jumped back on the bed, glad that he wasn't in trouble, and was about to give Hub another hug when the nurse came in. _

"_Visiting time is over. Hub needs his rest," she said stiffly as she walked out of the room. _

"_Awwww," said Hub as he went limp in his bed. "Why does she have to be so strict?"_

"_Hub, sweetie," said Mrs. Hikari, "It's because she is looking out for you." She walked over and gave Hub a hug and a kiss on the cheek. Right at that moment a very nervous Jena ran into the room and dove under the bed. _

"_If anyone comes in, I'm not here. And I ran away," Jena whispered as someone opened the door. _

"_Have you seen young Miss Walker, it's time for her surgery," said the nurse, which Hub recognized as the nice nurse that you got to see before you went home. Thinking for a minute, he responded. _

"_She's under the bed," he said. The nurse went and pulled Jena out. _

"_HUB! WHY DID YOU RAT ON ME!" she yelled as she tried to get out of the nurses firm grasp by kicking and screaming. _

"_Would you like to talk to your friend before your appointment?" said the nurse. Jena squirmed out of her arms. Lan watched as Jena walked past him and up to his brother. He had never seen Jena that mad before, and he was scared. _

"_I ratted on you because that's the nurse that you get to see before you get better. It's not the nurse that you get stuck with if you're never going to get better," he said. _

"_Hub, which nurse would that be? Which one is the one that you, um, get stuck with if you're never going to get better?" Dr. Hikari asked as he looked at his son and his son's best friend. The two young kids exchanged a nervous look. "Hub?"_

"_The one that I'm stuck with," he said so softly that his father could barely hear him. _

"_Hub," said his father, leaning in close, "I think that I may have found a way to help you. But I'll tell you tomorrow," he said as he looked at his wife. "Come on Jena, let's go and get you to the, um, nice nurse." Jena and Lan waved goodbye to Hub and left the room. _

_End Flashback _

"Wow," said Maylu after Lan was finished. "I had no idea."

"I didn't know what he told Dad that day until fifth grade," said Lan, looking at the ground.

"Well, now you do, and I know why he likes the park. Time to go and find them," said Maylu, standing up. Lan followed her and they started walking when something caught Lan's eye. He bent over and picked it up. "What did you find?"

"A blue jay's feather," said Lan, putting it in his pocket.

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Mega and Roll were asleep under the tree when Lan and Maylu found them. "You were right Lan," Maylu whispered as they watched their Navis sleep. Roll had fallen asleep across Mega's lap in his arms, and Mega was leaning against the tree. "He did choose the place with the best view."

"I don't think that we should wake them, though," said Lan. "Want to go to downtown in the meantime?"

"Sure," said Maylu. She turned to leave when she saw Lan messing with his PET. "What are you doing?"

"I'm trying to see if I can get this feather into the net. There we go!" he exclaimed as he inserted the feather into the PET, and Maylu watched as the feather landed right beside Mega.

"Ok, now can we go shopping?" asked Maylu. Lan smiled, and they left the park. A few minutes after their Op's left, Mega and Roll woke up.

"How long were we asleep?" asked Roll.

"I don't know," said Mega as he looked around and saw the feather. "Hey Roll, do you remember birds being in the net?"

"No, why?" she asked. Mega showed her the feather, and Roll used her antenna to analyze it.

"This feather was sent into the net via your brother's PET. Why would Lan send you a feather?"

"Well, I think it is because he gave one to me when I was in the hospital, and I think that's why he sent it."

"Oh," said Roll. She didn't really like asking about Mega's past, she felt like she was intruding on his privacy, but she really wanted to know more about him. "That's sweet of him." Mega smiled and gave her a hug.

"So, what do you want to do now?"

"Hmmm, I don't know. Do we really have to go somewhere? I like it here," she said, making herself comfortable in his lap, and, incidentally, pinning him to the ground.

"Well," he said, trying to get up, but failing, "I guess we can stay. Do you want to talk?"

"Sure."

"What to you want to talk about?" Roll looked at the ground, not wanting to answer.

"I-I-I sorta want to hear more stories from your, um, child….hood," she said, blushing a little.

"What do you want to hear about?"

"How did you get into the net?"

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Chaud and Mary had hit most of the games, and were about to hit the roller coaster when Mary got a call on her PET. "Hang on, I need to get this," she said as she looked at the caller id. "It's my dad."

"Ok, I'll just try my luck with this game," he said as he went over to the ball toss game. _"I wonder how my dad is doing. Wait, why should I care? He hurt me. He deserves what I'm giving him," _he thought as he began the game. _"Although I don't want to care, I do. Why?"_ He threw a ball and missed. _"He's ruined my life since I was little. I should be happy, but I'm not."_ He threw the second ball. _"I just wish that I had a good relationship with my dad like Mary has with hers. I should go home. I should do that once we're done here."_ He threw the last ball and knocked down the pins.

"Congratulations kid, what prize do ya want?" asked the owner of the game. Chaud looked and saw all the gigantic stuffed animals.

"I'll take the gigantic stuffed zebra," he said. The owner took down the animal and handed it to Chaud.

"Hey Chaud, you won!" said Mary, coming up to him.

"Yeah, but now I have to carry this thing around all day," he replied. Mary laughed.

"Why don't we go now? I don't think that my heart could handle the coaster," she said.

"Ok, let me call Proto and tell him that it's time to go," he said as he pulled out his PET. "Proto, time to go. Hey, Mary, do you want this?"

"Sure, thanks," said Mary as she Chaud handed her the animal

"Yes sir," came his answer.

"Well, let's get going," said Chaud as they left the park.

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Proto and Ring opted to walk home like they walked to the park. "So Proto, did you have fun or what?" Ring exclaimed. Proto just sighed. "Well? Tell me!"

"I guess I had fun," he finally answered. _"But I could do without all the yelling. I shouldn't have allowed her to buy cotton candy and a funnel cake. I have a feeling that she's going to be hyper all night. I almost feel sorry for Glyde and Yai."_

"What's with all the silence? Hey, I have a question: what was your favorite part?"

"Um, I guess the, um, arcade."

"I loved the shooting games!" she said. She was about to say something else when, all of the sudden, she and Proto were surrounded by six dark grey Navis. Two had sniper rifles, two had blasters, and two had swords.

"Hey, remember us?" asked one of the Navi with the blaster.

"Yeah," said Proto, "Didn't Ring and I delete your buddy and force you and your friend to log out?" The Navi growled at the memory.

"As a matter of fact we do," said a Navi with the sniper rifle.

"Well then," Ring yelled, "if you remember getting your tail whooped, then why are you asking us to do it again?"

"Listen missy," growled one of the swordsmen, "You deleted my brother, and now I'm going to delete you!" Once he finished saying that, he ran at Ring, who dodged.

"Actually," said Proto, "If I remember correctly, I was the one who deleted that thug." This ticked off the other Navis. The snipers shot at Proto, one of the bullets made contact. "Fine, if that's the way you want to play. Chaud, I could use some chips here." Chaud responded by sending an m cannon. Proto shot it and hit one of the snipers in the symbol, logging that Navi out.

"Ring! Here are two hi cannons!" Mary said as she sent the chips. Ring used them as soon as she got them. She logged out the other sniper and one of the blasters. Chaud sent Proto a long sword, as well as a variable sword. Proto logged out the other blaster one and one of the swordsmen, not the one who was trash talking, though.

"Well, now let's think about this for a second. Do you really want to attack us?" asked Ring sarcastically. The swordsman started to tremble in fear, and logged himself out. "Now, that was almost as fun as the space ride that went around in a circle really fast!"

"I hated that ride," mumbled Proto as Ring began to remind him of every detail of that day.

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Mary and Chaud arrived back at Blaze Mansion around five at night. They walked up the path, and into the den, where they found Mr. Blaze waiting for them."How was your day?" Mr. Blaze asked the couple as they sat down in their chairs.

"It was fun," said Mary. "I think that even Chaud enjoyed himself." Chaud just rolled his eyes at the last remark.

"That's wonderful. Chaud, have you made your decision," asked Mr. Blaze, sounding worn out.

"Yes," Chaud said. "I'll come home and go back to work for the time being. But if anything else happens, I'm going straight back to where I've been staying." _"I shouldn't tell him where I've been just in case I do have to go back."_

"Chaud," said his father, standing up and walking over to his son, who tensed up, but allowed his father to come close. "Thank you. Thank you for giving me a second chance." Mr. Blaze then did something that he hadn't done in years. He gave his son a gigantic hug. Chaud was shocked at first, but then he hugged his father back. Mary looked at the broken family and smiled.

"_I wish that my relationship with my dad was like that. He hardly ever pays attention to me. He never really did. I wish that I could just go and give him a big hug sometimes,"_ she thought. She looked at her PET, and saw Proto and Ring talking. "Hey, it's all ok, right?"

"Yeah," said Chaud, ending the embrace and walking over to Mary. "It's all ok now, Mary; thanks for helping me."

"It was nothing," she replied.

"No, it was everything," Chaud said.

"Well," said Mr. Blaze, "Why don't I leave the two of you alone." Chaud thanked his father as he walked out of the room before turning his attention back to Mary.

"I don't know how I could have coped if you weren't there. Thank you." He finished his speech with a kiss.

"Chaud," said Mary as she threw her arms around his neck. "Thanks for accepting me and my heart trouble. Most of the kids in Netopia are mean to me because of it."

"No problem. And I think that our Navis have gotten closer since we met," he said, looking on Mary's PET, where Ring had just thrown her arms around Proto, who seemed startled by her reaction. "Proto, what did you do to deserve that?"

"I just told her that I was grateful for her being my friend," he said. Once he said the word "grateful", Ring hugged him tighter.

"I guess that Ring likes Proto," said Mary as Chaud laughed.

"I guess so too. Isn't it weird that when Op's who are boy and a girl like each other, and they have a boy and a girl Navi, that the Navi's tend to like each other too?"

"Well, I guess that is weird. I have no idea why that happens, but I like it."

"Me too. I just hope that Proto will come out of his shell too."

**End Chapter **


	9. Heading Home

**Begin Chapter **

Lan and Maylu had been shopping for half an hour when Lan got an email from Mega.

--- ---

Lan

WHERE ARE YOU? The Blue Jay's feather, although it was a nice gift, doesn't tell me where you are. Roll's getting tired, and we're ready to meet you at our house. So high-tail it back home this instant!

Mega

--- ---

Once Lan was finished reading the email, he almost fell over laughing. "What?" asked Maylu, walking over to her friend.

"Read this," said Lan as he handed her the PET. When she was done, she just shook her head.

"That crazy boy. Well Lan, I guess that we should be getting home now. I don't want your brother mad at me," said Maylu, starting towards Lan's house.

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Chaud and Mary were walking back to Lan's house to get Chaud's clothes and other items when they ran into Yai, Tory, and Dex.

"Hey Yai," said Mary. Dex and Tory gave each other the "let's back off slowly" look. They then took a step back, and gave Chaud a look that told him that he might want to step back too. Mary and Yai kept chatting, oblivious to the boys and their strange action. Chaud walked over to the other boys.

"What's going on?" whispered Chaud.

"Uh, why don't we talk away from the girls?" asked Tory. "Hey Yai, would you mind if Dex, Chaud and I go on to Lan's?"

"No, I wouldn't mind. I'll meet you there," she said as she reverted her attention back to Mary. Chaud, Dex and Tory walked off towards Lan's, and they were at least five blocks away before Dex and Tory answered any of Chaud's questions.

"Well, Yai is acting kinda strange today," said Tory.

"Yeah," said Dex, "I think that she's jealous of Mary when she's with you." Chaud stopped dead in his tracks.

"Wai-wai-wai-wai-wait. Backup. Yai's jealous of Mary and me? Is her crush on me really that bad?" Chaud asked, looking from Tory to Dex.

"Possibly," said Tory. "But I don't think that she'd do anything to Mary."

"Why don't you think that she wouldn't? She can get pretty mean," said Chaud, getting nervous for Mary's safety.

"Well, Tory and I have decided that if Yai really wanted to hurt Mary, then she would have had plenty of opportunities at her house. I think that she is just waiting for May to go back to Netopia," said Dex. Chaud just shook his head and started walking again.

"You had better be right," said Chaud as he rounded the corner and entered the park behind Lan's house. Dex was about to comment on that when Tory elbowed him in the gut. They walked in silence until they reached Lan's.

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Mega and Roll were walking through the park towards the exit when Mega heard something. He stopped and started to look around the area. _"I swear that his super hearing is a curse,"_ thought Roll. _"I might as well ask him what he heard."_ "Mega, what's going on?"

"I don't know. I could have sworn that I heard a blaster charging near by," he said, "I guess I'm hearing things." Just then, a charged shot hit a bush right beside Mega.

"Or you could be hearing what's really going on," said a dark Navi that was approaching the couple. But the darkness didn't last long. Burnerman was approaching them.

"What do you want this time?" asked Mega, pushing Roll behind him.

"You burned to a crisp. I mean, what else would I want?" he asked with a sneer. "And I decided to attack now when you are most vulnerable."

"How'd you figure that one out?" Mega asked back, getting angrier by the minute.

"Well, mainly because your snot-nosed Op isn't here, and because you're here with your girlfriend."

"Roll," Mega whispered out of the corner of his mouth. "Log out and go get help. I'll deal with candle-boy here. Go." Roll gave him a hug and logged out.

"Awwww," teased Burnerman, "the widdle girwy wan away. Ha ha. Oh well, I guess that I'll just hunt her down after I'm done with you."

"What makes you think that you can take me on?" asked Mega. _"No one insults Roll and gets away with it. He's going down the hard way."_

"Because you don't have you're Op here. But what are we doing standing around and talking? Let's fight!" screamed Burnerman as he began his attack on Mega.

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Roll ran into Lan's house's system, looking for anyone that could help her. She entered Lan's personal laptop just in time to see Lan and Maylu enter the room. "Roll, what's wrong?" asked Maylu, looking at her navi's scared face.

"Mega is being attacked by Burnerman in the park! He's near the exit!" she exclaimed. Lan, not wasting a second, ran out the door to help his brother.

"_Just when things start to become normal again. Why does this always happen to me?"_ he thought as he entered the park. He soon found Mega's signal and jacked in his PET. "MEGA!" he yelled as his brother's image appeared on the screen. Mega had many burn marks all over his body, and Burnerman wasn't relinquishing his attack. When Mega heard his brother's voice, his cocky smile came back.

"_You're in for it now,"_ he thought as Lan slotted in a full recover chip. "Thanks Lan, why don't you send me Aqua Soul?"

"Sure thing bro," said Lan. During this time, Burnerman was starting to get nervous.

"_I'm in for it now. I guess that I shouldn't have insulted his brother. Kuso," _he thought. Mega shot him with an aqua shot. "Was that your best shot?"

"No, it wasn't," said Lan as he pulled out an aqua blade. When Mega got it, he ran at Burnerman and slashed out at him.

"Fine, you want to play like that, HEAT BLAST!" Burnerman yelled as he sent the massive attack at Mega.

"Mega, are you ok?" Lan asked worriedly as he saw his brother on the ground.

"I will be. Just send me another water chip," said Mega, standing up.

"Can do," said Lan as he sent Mega an aqua tower. Mega used it, and the effect was so strong that it logged out Burnerman. "Way to go Mega!"

"Ok, can we go home now? I'm beat," said Mega, logging out.

"Sure, I'm sure that Roll is worried sick about you."

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Roll wasn't the only one worried about Mega. Chaud, Tory, and Dex had arrived at Lan's right after Lan had left, and Mary and Yai arrived a few minutes after them. By the time that Lan got back, everyone in the household was worried. Lan and Mega were all but tackled by Maylu and Roll when they entered. "Don't ever do that again," said Roll as she released her death grip on Mega.

"Yeah Lan, you should at least tell us when you expect to be back," teased Chaud.

"I know," said Dex, "I had a bet that you'd be back in twenty minutes. So Chaud, how much do I owe you?" Lan just started laughing.

"Well," said Mary, "at least you're both ok."

"Yeah," Yai commented. "Tory, why didn't you get in on the bet?"

"Mainly because the time it takes Lan and Mega to beat an enemy and the amount of time it takes them to get back to where they're supposed to be is totally different. Remember that he skips class by taking the long way back to school," Tory commented.

"I don't do that all the time!" Lan exclaimed. "I only do that when I didn't do my homework the night before!" Maylu and Yai just shook their heads.

"I just don't get it," said Yai, "You have proven time and time again that you are very intelligent, yet you don't try to succeed at everything."

"I guess that that's just the way that some boys are," said Mary. "Oh Chaud, shouldn't you be upstairs packing?" (insert record screeching to a stop).

"You're leaving?" asked Lan.

"Yeah, my dad apologized to me today, and I'm going to go back for a while. I didn't tell him where I was, so if incase I need to come and hide again, I can," said Chaud, making his way to the stairs.

"Ok, well, I need to get home," said Dex.

"Me too. See you at school tomorrow," said Tory as he and Dex left Lan's house. Yai and Mary also had to go back to Yai's, and so they left.

"Well, it's going to be weird not having Mega wake me up every morning. In person that is," said Lan as he looked at his PET.

"I'm sure that I can find someone else to let me out," said Mega, smiling.

"Whatever," said Lan as he and Maylu walked up the stairs.

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"Well Chaud, it's going to be lonely here without you," said Mrs. Hikari as she and Dr. Hikari opened the front door for Chaud.

"Yeah," said Lan, "and they would say that it would be quieter, but my parents have a thing against lying." Lan got a look from his dad that said "we'll talk later". "Hey, do you want a ride to your house? I haven't driven my car in a long time."

"Umm, is it ok with your parents?" asked Chaud.

"Sure. I have a feeling that if I can trust him to fly cross-country, I can trust him to drive cross-town. Lan, be careful, and no street racing," said Dr. Hikari. Lan ran around the house to the back garage, and pulled his car around.

"Come on!" said Lan. Chaud threw his bag in the back seat, was about to get in the car when Maylu stuck her head out the window.

"Hey Lan, where are you going?" she asked.

"I'm taking Chaud home, wanna come?"

"Sure!" she said as she closed her window and ran downstairs. She climbed in the backseat since Chaud was in the front. "So you're going home now?"

"Yes," said Chaud as Lan drove off.

"Ok, we're taking the freeway," said Lan as he made his way there.

"Why? The freeway is out of the way," said Chaud as Lan accelerated as they entered the freeway. "You do have your license, right?"

"Yeah, I got it in Houston, remember," said Lan as he changed lanes.

"You aren't planning on taking this thing into the air, are you?" asked Maylu.

"Nah, I haven't had time to check the wings, and I might need to get Daniel to send Gig over to help Mega and me," he said as he took the exit for Chaud's house, and changed lanes. "And dad also thinks that I'm going to stay on the road, so I will."

"Ok," said Chaud, "but could you please just pick a lane and stay in it." Lan responded by changing lanes.

"I don't see what your problem is. It's not like I'm an erotic driver. Wow, I didn't even know that I knew that word," said Lan as he approached Chaud's house. Lan pulled up a minute, and a few quick turns later, they were in front of Chaud's home.

"Thanks for the lift," said Chaud as he got out of the car. Maylu handed him his bag as she moved to the front seat.

"Take care of yourself. Oh, are you going to continue going to school?" asked Maylu.

"Nah, I think that I'll go back to work. No offense, but all that school is is busy work. Bye," said Chaud as he started up the front path.

"Hey Chaud," Lan yelled as Chaud opened the front door. Chaud turned around to look at the car. "Good luck!" Chaud just smiled and shook his head as he entered the house. "Man, it's going to be different with Mega not pushing me out of bed every morning."

"Hey, don't think that you're off the hook just because Chaud isn't there to put the chip in. I'm sure that mom would _love_ to get you up like that whenever she wants," said Mega from the car's CPU. Maylu jacked Roll in as Lan started back towards his house.

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Chaud walked into his room and set his stuff on the bed. _"This is going to be weird going back to the pampered lifestyle. I wonder if I'll ever get used to it again," _he thought. "Hey, Proto, do you think that I'll ever get used to living here again?"

"I'm sure you will. It might take a while, but I'm 99 positive that you will. Hey, why don't you get unpacked, and then you can just take a nap or something," said Proto. Chaud took the PET and PET charger and put them on his desk, and then went to change into sleeping clothes.

"Yeah, I guess that you're right. I'm tired. I bet the old- I mean Dad went back to work," said Chaud as he crawled into his bed. "Night."

"Goodnight Chaud."

**End Chapter  
**


	10. Epilogue

**Begin Chapter**

It was a fine Saturday morning, and Lan was spending it in the garage. He had called Jena and was having her give instructions on how to lube his car. She was currently talking to him via videophone and a large screen TV. "Ok, so you have the wing coverings off, right?"

"Yes," said Lan as he set the second covering on the floor, "Now what?"

"Now you need to go and pull out the wings. Just push the button," she replied as Lan went into his car, "Hey, where's your bro?"

"He's over with Roll right now," said Lan as the wings emerged, "Ok, the wings are out."

"Now you need to make sure that the bolts are on tight," said Jena as Lan started to check the wings. "What do you think that they're doing?"

"Mega and Roll, I think that they're going to get something for Ring. She and Mary are leaving for Netopia soon," said Lan as he finished the first wing. "How are Johnny, Joey, and Ryan?"

"They're fine. It's been very stormy here lately," said Jena as Lan finished the second wing and retracted the wings. "Now you need to re-attach the coverings." Lan started to put the first covering on when Mega appeared in his PET.

"Hey Jena," he said as soon as he saw her.

"Hey you," she replied.

"Lan, if you inserted the gateway chip I would be able to help you," Mega said. Lan, who was struggling with the cover, walked over to his PET and inserted the chip. Mega materialized and took the cover from his brother.

"Thanks," said Lan as Mega held the cover over the wings. Lan reattached the cover and they walked over to the screen.

"How've ya been Jena?" asked Mega.

"Fine, I hear that you went shopping with your girlfriend," she said in a teasing tone.

"So, you got a problem with that," he replied in a fake angry tone. Lan rolled his eyes as the two friends broke down laughing. "Watcha been up to?"

"Nada much," she replied.

"Jena," Lan said, "Could you please pick and stick with one language?"

"Bien, Pero la lingua cuando yo quiero es espanol," she replied with an evil grin. Lan looked at Mega, confused at what she had just said.

"She said 'Sure, but the language that I want is Spanish,'" he replied.

"Well fine, is that all I need to lube my car?" Lan asked.

"Si. Bien trabajo chico," she replied as Lan looked at Mega.

"Translation- Yes. Good job kid'. I think that you need to take Spanish next semester," said Mega.

"Why? I've got you," said Lan. Jena broke down laughing.

"Su hermanito es locito," said Jena to Mega.

"Es la verdad," he replied.

"English please!" Lan begged. "Did you ever do this to the people in the hospital?"

"Si, pero, por que necesitamos hablar ingles?" asked Jena.

"I need to understand what you're asking, please go back to English!" Mega was about to retort when Maylu came into Lan's garage.

"What's going on here?" asked Maylu.

"Mega and Jena won't speak English. It's getting really annoying," Lan said as Mega and Jena tried not to laugh.

"Ok, we'll speak English again," said Jena, "How are you Maylu?"

"I'm fine. Oh, Lan, look at what Yai gave me!" she said as she pulled out a gateway chip.

"Yai?" asked Mega as he looked at the chip.

"Yeah, I sent it to her. I forgot your address, sorry," said Jena to Maylu as she slotted in the chip. Roll appeared right beside Mega.

"Thanks for the chip!" said Roll as she attached herself to Mega's arm.

"Are you going somewhere?" asked Maylu as she looked at the car, which was looking nicer than it did a few weeks ago.

"I don't know. I think that I might fly it over to the airport so we could say goodbye to Mary," said Lan as he looked at the clock.

"Well, I need to get going. Lan, I'll send you the diary that I kept while I was in the hospital. I recorded every 'bad' thing that the kids there did," she said. They all said their goodbyes as Jena turned off the monitor.

"We had better get going too. Lan, did you get your car passed with Chief?" asked Mega.

"Yes, and I got my license right here," he replied as he got in the car and pulled out the card. "Are you riding with us, or are you going to take your car?"

"I'm taking mine," said Mega as he and Roll went back to the net, and got in his car. "See ya there."

"Ok," said Lan as he pulled out of the garage.

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Mary, Chaud, and Yai pulled up in front of the airport a half-hour before her flight left. "Why did we have to get here so early?" asked Mary as they walked into the foyer.

"Because everyone is coming to say goodbye," said Yai.

"There're Tory and Dex," said Chaud as the two boys ran over to their group.

"Have any of you seen Maylu or Lan?" asked Tory.

"They're on their way," said Proto from Chaud's PET. "Lan's driving, or flying."

"What?" asked Ring and Mary simultaneously.

"Lan has a car that can be turned into a small plane," explained Chaud.

"Oh," said Mary as she looked out the window. She saw a formula one racecar drive into the garage. "What type of car does he have?"

"A racecar," said Dex as he watched Lan and Maylu come into the airport.

"Hey everyone!" said Maylu as she gave Mary a hug. "I can't believe that you're leaving so soon."

"Yeah. Lan, was that your racecar?" she asked.

"It was. I think that we made great time. We left my house five minutes ago," he bragged.

"Don't you live on the opposite side of town?" asked Chaud.

"Well, I got the wings working, so we flew here," said Lan.

"That sounds like fun," said Yai. "Mary, do you have your ticket?"

"Right here," she said as she pulled the ticket out.

"It's almost time for you to go, and we can't go to the gate," said Chaud as he looked at his watch.

"I wish that I could stay for a few more days," said Mary as she threw her arms around Chaud. Everyone smiled at this, even Yai smiled a bit.

"I do too, but you need to go home to your parents," Chaud replied.

"You're right," she said. "But at least I'm leaving with a bunch of pen-pals," she said, smiling.

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In the net, everyone was saying their goodbyes to Ring. "It was nice having you stay with us, Miss Ring," said Glyde as he kissed her hand.

"Yeah," said Roll as she gave Ring a hug, "I'm going to miss having another girl Navi here. Too bad you didn't get to meet Medi."

"I think that I will see her someday," she replied.

"Well," said Iceman, "I think that there's a little less than ten minutes before your plane leaves." Ring looked at the clock and saw that he was right.

"Awww, I'm going to miss all of you!" she said.

"Um, Ring, could I talk to you for a minute, alone?" Proto asked, and Ring followed him out of the circle of Navis.

"What do you need?" she asked as soon as they were out of earshot.

"I wanted to give you this," he said as he pulled out a box. Ring took and opened the box. It was a necklace with her symbol on it.

"It's beautiful!" she exclaimed as she threw her arms around his neck. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome. Chaud and I were hoping that you and Mary could come and visit this summer," he said, blushing a little.

"We're going to have to ask, but I think that we can. Thank you!" she said as a screen with Mary's face popped up.

"Time to go," she said.

"Ok," said Ring as she let go of Proto, said her final goodbyes to everyone, and logged out.

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That night, Chaud lay awake in his bed. "Chaud, is something the matter?"

"I just miss Mary. I think that you miss Ring too, Proto," he replied.

"Yes, but she said that she would email you soon. You don't honestly expect her to email the night that she got back to her family?" Proto replied.

"Yeah, I guess you're right," Chaud answered. "She'll email me tomorrow."

"I gave Ring that necklace that I bought," Proto said.

"Did she like it?" Chaud asked, looking at Proto, who blushed.

"Yes, yes she did," he said.

"Told ya," said Chaud as he rolled back over. "Well, I'm going to sleep. Goodnight."

"Goodnight," said Proto as he put the PET on sleep mode.

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Mega was sitting on the roof of the Hikari residence. _"It took some persuading to get Lan to slot in the chip, but it was worth it. Too bad I won't be able to wake him up like this tomorrow. Oh well, better to have him sleep in than have the gateway chip destroyed."_

"Nice night isn't it," came a voice from the other side of the roof. Mega turned around and saw Roll come over and sit down beside him.

"Yes it is. What are you doing here?" he asked as Roll laid her head on his shoulder, which he responded to by putting his arm around her.

"I couldn't sleep, and I saw you climb on the roof. Maylu slotted in the chip before she went to sleep," she replied. "Why are you up here?"

"I like being outside, and like you said, it's a nice night," he said.

"What did Jena mean when she said her hospital diary?"

"Well, all the nurses wanted us to write down what it was like here for us. I wrote a journal, that I think that either Jena has, and Jena wrote a diary. Both books were chronicles of our accomplishments. We wrote down everything that we, or someone that we had helping, did; if we got caught or not; and if we were, what the punishment was. I bet the nurses didn't know about half of the stuff that we did," he said laughing.

"So she was going to send hers so that Lan could see what real troublemakers can do?" she asked.

"Pretty much, and I emailed her and she's going to send mine too. Lan's not going to read that one until I've re-read it," he commented.

"Well, I had better get home. See you tomorrow!" she said as he made her way back to the ground. Mega watched her walk into her house, and lay back on the roof.

"_This is going to be an interesting week. Knowing Jena, she over-nighted the books, so I had better get those before Lan does. I wonder what Jena wrote in her's other than the list. Well, I'll find out tomorrow," _he thought as he fell asleep on the roof with the cool breeze rustling his hair.

**End Chapter**

Well, there ya go, there's the end of the third story. If you couldn't tell, I'm going to be doing Jena's "diary" from the hospital days. I hope ya'll liked this story!

TRANSLATIONS!

Su hermanito es locito- your little brother is crazy

Es la verdad- it's true (or it is the truth)

Si, pero, por que necesitamos hablar ingles?- Yes, but, why do we need to speak English?

Jhvh


End file.
